Finding Family
by LAoR
Summary: 1863: When Bella's older brother Jasper goes missing in the war, she sneaks onto the war-front to find her brother but is attacked, bitten & forced to move on. 2006: She moves to Forks, WA to find not only Jasper, but the gorgeous Edward Cullen.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Stephanie Meyer! **

* * *

Bella's POV

1861, Houston, TX

I sigh as I mentally note that it's _another_ typically warm day here in Houston, Texas as I lay in the clearing near our home looking at the sky, picking out shapes of different animals in the clouds. It isn't too sunny, thank goodness, Mama would have a fit if she caught me laying out like this without something to cover my skin, but I don't see why it would matter as my skin has never been any darker than the palest ivory. Even _if_ I spent a whole week out in the burning summer sun, I'm sure it would stay the same pale ivory it's always been. I expect that it's a good thing our family has a whole bunch of trees around our property or else I'd never be allowed out! I suppose it's a good thing I also wore a bonnet, that way I could possibly argue my way out of anything, especially where Papa was concerned; he let's me get away with nearly anything much to Mama's annoyance.

I close my eyes as I listen for any commotion coming from the house. My brother Jasper told me this morning that he had to talk to Mama and Papa about something important and that he would rather tell me when it was just the two of us. Jasper is two years older than I am, making him seventeen and I fifteen right now, but we're so close it's scary. We can almost tell exactly what the other is thinking even before we think it and we love spending time together. He's the one who taught me how to throw a mean punch and shoot a rifle! Oh, I'll never forget the day when Mama figured out it was I shooting out in the field with Jasper and not Papa!

I giggled as I thought of the memory. It was only about half a year ago when we were caught, but he had been teaching me in secret since I was thirteen; he said that I should learn so I could keep all of the boys away. Our house isn't a mansion, but it is rather large, and we have quite a bit of land around us along with many trees and large rolling fields. One of the fields is separated from our house by a small hill followed by a thick line of trees where they clear out into a beautiful, green meadow. This meadow is where my brother taught me how to hold, load, aim, fire, and clean a rifle.

We had been going at it for nearly three hours when we heard Mama shouting at Jasper to find me and come to eat. Unfortunately, she was shouting from just behind a tree that she was walking around when she saw me aiming at a makeshift target Jasper had set up against another tree on the other-side of the meadow. Oh, I've never seen her so _angry!_

First she screamed such a high-pitched scream before rushing over, jerking the rifle from my hands, throwing it at Jasper and then she smacked me right across the face screaming, "DO YOU WANT TO KILL YOURSELF ISABELLA?! HOW DARE YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO PARTICIPATE IN GAMES BOYS PLAY!"

Then, rounding on Jasper, "AND _YOU!_ LETTING HER! JASPER, HOW COULD YOU?! SHE'S _SUPPOSED _TO BE A YOUNG LADY!" Apparently noticing some of the servants stopping to look at what she was screaming at, she then lowered her voice just a bit, adding, "Just you wait until your father hears about this! She'll NEVER be married off if you keep teaching her how to act less like a lady and more like a dirty boy!"

Thankfully, Papa didn't punish Jasper and I, however he did warn us that we had to lead Mama on as if he did.

Long before she finished her rant, which she didn't finish for nearly a month, I was crying. I started crying the moment she slapped my cheek, and kept crying even when Jasper held me close while listening to her rave until her voice was hoarse in the meadow. Usually when he holds me close and I bury my face into his chest I calm quite quickly, but I was so terrified that she was truly going to marry me off to someone.

I frowned suddenly, my eyes still closed as I came back to the present moment. That _had _to be what Jasper was talking to our parents about right now; I couldn't think of anything else! I shrugged my shoulders as I stay lying upon the quilt in the grass. I knew better than to ruin a dress of mine by laying in the grass, even if it wasn't one of my good ones: it was only a plain, light blue dress. I grinned slightly; blue was Jazzy's favorite color on me, be said it made me look less pale. I laughed.

My laugh was cut short however when I heard what sounded suspiciously like Mama shout. I sat up, startled and carefully maneuvered my skirts around me so I could jump up quickly if necessary. It wasn't what sounded like a scared scream; it was more what I could only guess as _anguished._ I looked in the direction of our home, squinting my eyes and holding a hand over my eyes to block out any sun that could be hindering my sight like I had seen Papa and Jasper do many times. The large, green shuttered windows stood out dark against the white color of the house, however there either wasn't enough light coming into the rooms or Mama and Papa were on the other-side with Jasper speaking in Papa's office or possibly the library.

I wanted so badly to stand and run the distance to the door so I could see why Mama had made such a terrible sound, but I had promised Jasper that I would stay away until he came to find me himself. A terrible hollow feeling started to brew in my chest; this _couldn't_ be about marrying me off. Mama wouldn't make such a sound as that if my brother objected to a marriage for me, she would more likely than not make a huffing sound and stomp just a bit before her anger got the best of her and she began to let out a distinct, shrill sound. Don't get me wrong, I love Mama with all of my heart and I couldn't possibly imagine life without her or Papa but I must admit that she is more of a handful than I would rather deal with. I'm much more like Papa.

I turned back to look into the trees but immediately whipped my head around again as I heard a slam and Mama cry, "NO! PLEASE RECONSIDER!"

Jasper never shouted so I was incredibly startled when I heard his voice immediately follow our mother's plea, "RECONSIDER?! I'VE CONSIDERED ENOUGH THANK YOU! I'M GOING!" Another slam. A door this time.

_Going?_ I thought. _Going where?_ Was Jasper going somewhere? Was my older brother leaving me?!

The hollow feeling in my chest fell lower into my stomach and began to turn into a horrified feeling. _No!_

_No! No, no, no, no, no!_

I stood and looked at our house and started towards it when the large, white door opened to reveal my brother. He was tall, muscular but thin, and had blonde hair and brown eyes, identical eyes to mine. However I had long, dark mahogany hair that was every bit as wavy as his blonde.

"Jazz?" I whispered, seeing that his face revealed him to be very angry.

He looked up and his face softened when his eyes found mine, "There's my Bella," he said.

He motioned with his hand for me to come closer and follow him to where I assumed was our special spot.

Our special spot was nothing more than a large boulder that had somehow found it's way under our favorite and very old, very large tree that stood far from our house.

When we arrived in the shade, he sat on the stone of the boulder and motioned for me to sit next to him. I did. He looked away for a moment and then looked back at me, seeming to study my face.

"Bells," he took a deep breath. "Bella, I know you know that there's a war starting, I know you read and hear the news Papa brings home."

I nodded, "Yes." My sinking feeling of horror started to bubble.

He took my hand and turned to completely face me, "Bells I'm joining the Confederate Army and going to fight."

I stared at him. Oh, no. _Oh, no, no, no, no, no!_

"No." I whispered. "No, Jasper! You're _seventeen!_ You aren't allowed! No! You can't!"

He sighed, "You know I'm good with what I want to do and I wanted in, so they let me join. So, I can. I'm so sorry, Bella. I don't want to leave you, but if I don't go, who will?"

"NO ONE!" I shouted. "No one should go! Papa is too old and you're too young! What if something happens?! Jasper I can't lose you! You're my brother!"

The dam holding my tears at bay suddenly broke and tears flooded my face and I coughed suddenly as I gulped in a large amount of air so I could continue my rant, "No! _NO!_ Please don't go!"

My brother looked as if he had done a great injustice and looked quickly to the side as he drew in a shaky breath, "Bells, I'm so, so sorry. But even if I decided I didn't want to go, I'd have no choice. I promise I'll write to you as much as I can," he tried. "I can't promise every day, but I can promise I'll do my best for every other week or so. I don't know what it's like out there for sure so I can't make promises."

My body shook with each sob I let out as I suddenly leapt at my brother and pulled him to me as it hit me that there was no stopping him from leaving. I knew him better than anyone did and that meant that I knew that once he had decided he was going, that meant that he was going. But oh, Lord, how my heart broke.

"You're breaking my heart Jazz," I whispered.

He suddenly shook with a small sob, nothing big, that wasn't him at all, "I'm sorry Bella, truly I am. But it's what I'm meant to do, okay? And guess what, now no boys will mess with you in town because they know I'm a military man now. That's good, right?"

I'd rather all the boys in town throw rocks at me and push me in the mud in my best Sunday dress and pull out all of my hair than have my brother gone from me, but I didn't tell him that. I merely nodded, coward as I am.

"That's my Bella," Jasper whispered. "That's my little sister that I love so much."

He pulled me closer and put his face in my hair and breathed in. I did the same to his shirt as I clung to him so tightly. I had a terrible, terrible feeling about him leaving but I knew that he wouldn't listen to me if I voiced that thought.

"How long will you be?" I whispered.

"I'll be back before you can even miss me," He said enthusiastically. I knew then that he was actually excited to go and fight. He truly is made for something like the military, Papa always said so anyway. I've only read in books what military men were supposed to be like and my big brother fit the picture so well, I knew.

"I already miss you, Jazz."

He nodded. We sat in silence on our boulder, I don't know how long, but we just sat in silence. Suddenly, I pulled my bonnet from my head and pulled my absolute favorite blue ribbon from my hair. Jasper stared as my dark hair fell in ringlets around my face and shoulders. I tied my bonnet back on and turned to him, holding my ribbon.

"I don't want you to forget me," I started, but he laughed gently.

"Bells, I will _never,_ _ever_ forget about you. How could I?"

I shook my head, "I don't want you to forget me, or the way my hair smells. You say that my hair smells like fresh strawberries and you know that this is my favorite blue ribbon so I wear it a lot. It'll smell like my hair does and I want you to keep it so you don't forget that either." I pushed my now folded ribbon into his hand and then placed my hands upon my skirts, looking down.

I didn't see his face but I know he froze momentarily and I know that I heard the sob he let escape his throat right before I found myself wrapped in his brotherly embrace, "Thank you Bella," he whispered, "But you know I'll never forget anything about you."

I looked up at him, "Now you're supposed to give me something of yours to keep for you until you get back home to me!" I smiled and looked away so he could man-up as Papa calls it.

A moment later he stood, "I have the perfect thing!" He grinned at me, taking my hand, "come on Bells, let me show you."

We walked with my arm looped through his, mostly so he could keep me from tripping over anything and everything. He had placed my ribbon in his breast pocket for safe keeping and promised me that he would always have it with him and when he was fighting he would tie it around his ankle inside his boot so he wouldn't lose it.

I agreed that it _was_ a rather good idea.

He took me upstairs and into his study. I used to spend hours in here with him learning how to read and playing with both of our toys, I smiled softly at the memory. He had me sit on a chaise and wait for him to come back, promising he'd only be fifteen seconds. I counted.

Fifteen seconds later, he walked back in from his sleeping quarters holding a thick, dark blue and gold blanket that I immediately recognized as the blanket he always had with him growing up and he still couldn't bear to part with it. He made me swear that I wouldn't tell any of the boys he was friends with that he still had it, I swore, and I never have told.

"Your 'J' blanket!" I squealed.

The blanket was blue velvet with silk gold trim on one side embroidered with a dark blue elaborate "J" on one corner of the gold silk. "'J' for Jasper!" I would always giggle when I learned what the letter "J" was for when I was a small child.

"Yes," he sighed. "My 'J' blanket." He carefully folded it up, "This is for you to keep for me so you don't forget _me_ and for safe-keeping. I know you'll take care of it."

**

The rest of the week was spent preparing for my brother to leave. I helped packing necessities and he and Papa readied his horse for the journey. I also snuck in some of Jasper's favorite chocolates that I had stolen from Mama's chocolate drawer.

We were both sad that Mama was refusing to talk to him since he was leaving. I hoped she would come around to say at least 'goodbye' when he was due to leave within the hour. I cried countless tears since I heard the news and even though I suppose he thought I was taking the news well, I was devastated. I hope he wasn't as devastated as I or else we'd be in trouble. I know Jasper can't do anything when he's not feeling at his best emotionally. He was fine physically, he could do anything he wanted, but I know his mind had to be in it.

Unfortunately it was time for him to head out on his horse. I walked out, my skirts swishing around me as I quickened my pace towards my brother. I looked around and smiled slightly as I noticed my mother running full out to Jasper, her arms open wide and tears running down her face.

"Renée," Papa started, but she cut him off, "Oh stop Charles! He's my son! My only son, and he's going to fight in a _war!_ Oh, Jasper Whitlock you make us proud! You hear me?"

Jasper nodded, smiling brightly, "Of course Mama!"

Papa had obviously already said his good-byes to my brother so I took my chance and ran at him, leaping and landing in his arms as I tightened my hold around his neck, "I love you Jasper! You come back to me you hear? You write to me _all_ of the time! You're my favorite brother!"

"I'm your only brother," his voice was muffled.

I sniffed as tears came from my eyes, "Exactly," I whispered, "So be _careful_ and look out for anything suspicious and take care of yourself!" I hugged him again, "I love you."

"I love you too, little sister," he whispered. He let me go, studied me for a moment, looked and nodded at our parents and mounted his horse.

"Well, bye then. See you!" He waved and then he was gone.

* * *

1863, Houston, TX

It's been just over two years since I last saw my brother when he joined the army. I received bi-weekly letters from him, as did Mama and Papa and I read them greedily, imagining all of the excitement he must be experiencing. We're so proud of him for advancing so quickly through the ranks. Papa says that it's his charisma and personality, and I have to agree. Mama writes him and asks him if he needs money but Jasper always replies in the negative saying that he's making as decent a living as he can since he's always moving with his soldiers.

I was sitting in the parlor waiting yet again for the mail boy to come riding his horse up our property to bring me another of Jasper's letters. He had been late in sending his letters recently in fact I haven't received a single one in nearly a month, which is very much out of the ordinary for him. The uneasy feeling that had been in my body since the day I found out he was leaving had been growing larger over the past two months. I shuddered.

Mama was sitting in the parlor with me doing some knitting. She had given up in getting me to knit with her and was now content to let me sit and read a book since I had finished all of my required studies and had, to her dismay, personally threatened every boy and man that came to ask permission to court me with my father's spare rifle.

I had grown to be a much better shot, I noticed. I've taken to practicing whenever Mama goes into town, which turns out to be quite often, and I must say that I could certainly give Jasper a run for his money. I've even taken to practicing my punching skills with Papa (secretly, of course, Mama would never allow it).

I looked to the wall at a brand new hand-drawn portrait of myself that Mama had commissioned for me. She bought a new beautiful rose-colored dress with the tightest corset. The sleeves were in-style and large with a large skirt. She had forced my hair into ringlets and pulled it up with flowers and a pink ribbon. In the portrait I was sitting looking to the side with my skirts around me and my hands were clutching a dark blue and gold blanket. Mama had tried desperately to get me to not have it in the portrait but the artist insisted that the blue and gold would break up all of the rose tones of the dress. I had insisted that he be sure to include the "J" for my sake, he did. It truly was a wonderful piece of work, even if it was just plain old me. I hate wearing dresses, but what was I to do? I sighed and looked over at a smaller portrait of Jasper that sat next to it. How I missed him desperately.

I started when I heard a galloping sound coming from outside. I looked at Mama and saw that she noticed it at the same time I did and we jumped up and ran to the outside porch to await the mail boy's arrival.

I immediately noticed something wasn't right. Coming up the dirt way that lead up to our home was not the mail boy. I gasped, _oh, Lord_. It was two men in Confederate uniforms.

"Oh, Lord, have mercy," Mama whispered, "Charles!" she shouted, "CHARLES! QUICKLY!"

"PAPA!" I shouted too. I heard my father thundering down the stairs behind us and bursting through the door.

"What?! What is it?" He asked before he saw where I was pointing at the two soldiers that were now quite close to us. "Oh, _no_," he whispered, "_No."_

The older of the two men, who looked no more than twenty-five dismounted, followed by the second man, and walked forward. He tipped his hat at Mama who had wrapped her arms around me, and then smiled grimly at me before turning to Papa, "Are you the father of Major Jasper Whitlock?"

"I am," Papa nodded once, his usually lively face so pale.

The first man suddenly saluted my father and then handed him a letter, "I'm sorry to say, sir, that your son has gone missing."

"WHAT?!" Mama shouted, "Missing? No!"

"But he isn't dead, right?" I spoke over her, frantic, "Please!"

He turned to address us, "Ma'am, I'm sorry to tell you that I cannot answer your questions because I do not know. That letter has all of the information possible to give." He turned back to Papa as I clung desperately to Mama, "My apologies, sir, but he has been missing for just over a month now his troops tell us. At first we thought he had gone without leave but we found many of his belongings in his lodgings just as he left them when last seen."

"What was he doing when he was last seen?" Papa asked.

"I believe he was helping patrol, sir, but I cannot be sure. I'm sorry, but I must leave now."

And they left.

The world was suddenly closing up on me and I couldn't breathe properly. I know it wasn't from my corset because, while that restricted my breathing, it never felt like this. I listened to Papa read the letter out loud, just confirming what the soldier had said about my brother. I tore myself from my mother and ran up to my room, slamming and locking my door before throwing myself upon my bed and crying deep, wrenching sobs.

I sobbed for hours until nightfall after I knew my parents had retired to bed. I sat up and stared out my wardrobe as the most wonderful, brilliant, yet incredibly idiotic and suicidal plan formed in my head.

I threw my shoes off and ran light as a feather to Jasper's room. I carried a candle with me to see in the darkness and opened the door to be greeted with dust. No one had been in his room since about a year after he left and I knew exactly where everything was.

Everything he left behind, on purpose or by accident.

He had left behind a Confederate soldier's uniform that Mama had sewn too small for him by accident.

Too small for him, just right for me.

I smiled the biggest smile since he left. I was going to find my brother. I was going to war.

* * *

Haha, cliffie! Sorry! But hey, 7 pages and 4,000 words is A LOT!

So, what did you think? Bad? Good? It's been AGES since I've written anything because of life so I NEED your reviews to get some pointers!!!!

I hope you liked it! Review and let me know if you want more!

By the way, this WILL eventually be a Bella/Edward fic, but for now I'm focusing on Bella's life with her big brother Jasper!

REVIEW!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns everything!**

* * *

Bella's POV

1863, Houston, TX

I know that I'm a fantastic shot and that I can throw a good punch but that certainly didn't mean that I was a good fighter; that was Jasper's job. I let go another small sob as I looked on at my brother's too-small uniform that he left behind. How was I going to do this? Could I do this?

Yes, I could. For Jasper. I need my brother. And I know that the army wouldn't listen to a woman who had questions. We were women, to them, I was lowly.

Self-doubt started to steal it's way into my body but I shoved it out. _I can do this._

I shook my head and squared my shoulders before grabbing the Confederate uniform and sneaking back to my room. I tried my best to be incredibly quiet and I amazed myself at my ability to do so without tripping or breaking something thus far.

I locked my door back and set the uniform upon my bed and took a deep breath. I turned around and looked at myself in my mirror and began to take off my dress, my petticoat, my thick knickers, I struggled a bit with my corset, and then looked at myself in nothing but my underclothing. I felt odd without my corset. I turned to my side to look at myself and was hit with a pang of uncertainty as I looked at my chest.

_Oh, those._

What was I going to do about those? I looked around my room. My plan was only to impersonate an officer to sneak in to find information about my brother. I was going to avoid any fighting or combat or anything but just in case, I looked upwards and silently thanked whoever was listening for being taught how to use a rifle in case I was caught. I blew out a breath and looked around some more. I know they aren't exactly _flashy_ as Mama would say but they're _large_ _enough_ to be noticed. I couldn't wear my corset to flatten them.

_Ah hah!_

I looked down at my feet where I was still wearing my white tights before looking back at myself in the mirror, then down again. I reached down and began to remove them; I wouldn't need them for my feet anyway!

Lifting up the thin fabric I wore between my skin and my corset I began to tie one of my leggings around my chest very tightly. I almost laughed though, because it wasn't nearly as tight as my painful corset but I refrained in fear of waking my parents. After making sure it was secure I pulled the thin fabric back down and looked at myself in the mirror from the front and then both sides. I smiled to myself; I looked like I had gone back to having my old twelve-year-old body before I knew I was supposed to have these things.

I suddenly thanked whoever was listening for not having my mother's physique. Oh _those_ would be impossible to conceal let alone painful. I hear her complaining about the shoulder and back pain all the time. I shuddered and hurried back to work.

I kept placing on Jasper's clothing and was almost finished when I thought to myself that Jasper and I didn't have the same size feet. I looked around frantically, my heart plummeting, until my eyes set upon the boots Jasper bought me for riding. Those would be _perfect!_ Now that my plan wasn't foiled thus far, I hurried to complete the look.

Finally, I stepped in front of the mirror with Jasper's extra hat in my hands about to put it on when I noticed that my hair was much too long to pass for a boy. I froze. I was _not_ about to cut my hair! I pulled it down from its pins and curls and ran a comb through it to smooth it out as I pondered what to do.

As I lifted my hair from my neck to comb the underside I stopped and had an epiphany. I looked from my hair pulled back from my face and neck and to the hat, the idea forming too quickly for words. I had read about this only in books and wondered if it would work! I pulled my hair tightly around my head and put so many pins in I was sure if I stepped outside during a lightning storm I would be immediately hit with lightning and placed the hat over it all.

I still looked a dash too female for this. I frowned.

_Apparently I only pretend to be intelligent_. I thought. _Makeup._

I had to clean my makeup from my face that my Mama makes me wear. I hurried to the small basin upon a stand along my wall, took off the hat, and proceeded to wash any remnants of the coloring from my face then proceeded to take my pen as I went towards my mirror. My eyebrows were still too thin for a man but I was about to fix that by a little coloring in.

Five minutes later when I was sure that I would pass for a male with no problem I hurried to pack other necessities before blowing out my candles and sneaking from my room to my father's study for his gun, ammunition, and gun powder, then made my way to the kitchen area.

I was glad that my father had implemented a rule that no one was to be in our home while we were sleeping for fear that we would be killed in our sleep from servants or otherwise so I needn't worry about being caught once I made it down the stairs and to the kitchen with a bag to fill with food and multiple canteens of water since I was only vaguely sure of where to go.

Once done, I didn't bother writing to my parents where I was going because I knew I would be found out in no time if I did. My mother wouldn't be able to stand the true loss of a child; she was barely getting by with thinking that Jasper was only missing. I shrugged and made my way out to the stables where my horse stayed.

I hurried and readied my horse for the journey. I already knew he was fantastic at long distances since he had been on multiple trips and through multiple spooks so he wasn't easy to make scared.

"It's okay boy," I whispered to him when he made a bit of noise, "It's only me, it's only your Bella. Shh."

I lead him from the stable and after double-checking I had everything upon my horse and my person, along with Jasper's "J" blanket (since I couldn't live without it) I brought my horse to a full gallop and we were gone into the night.

* * *

I made my way into town and noticed that it had taken me nearly all night to ready myself for my journey, as the sky was slowly beginning to lighten. I knew I had to hurry if I had any hope of this working. I looked about town for any signs of where I needed to go and I caught sight of what appeared to be a newspaper.

I gathered that I had to travel northeast and begin my real search there when I met up with someone I recognized from the letters and photo's Jasper sent home. I looked down at my pack and saw that said letters he addressed to me and said photos were still safe in their place before urging my horse to go as fast as he could.

* * *

I pulled my hat down a bit when I entered another town after leaving home nearly a week ago. I knew I was somewhere in Louisiana by this point and I tried not to rush my horse as I let him stop for food and water. I was making my way northeast towards Mississippi, then through Tennessee where I knew he was last seen.

I checked my map, looked at the town name and saw that I was making much better progress than I thought and I smiled to myself as I allowed my horse to rest. I had money that I had taken from home that I used to buy myself some food. All around people were staring at me and a few asked if I was joining the war. When I nodded I was clapped upon the back and I tried to smile as manly as possible and nod before quickly making my way away from them.

After resting for a while and doing a once-over on my horse I looked at him, "Ready boy?" I asked before mounting and high-tailing it out of there.

My journey lasted so long that I wondered if this really was a good idea but every time I thought about that I forced myself to look at a picture of Jasper I brought along with me and my resolve hardened just a bit more.

As I entered yet another town I looked up and was surprised to see other Confederate soldiers making their way through the town. They noticed me and waved me over, asking my name, rank, et cetera. I answered all of their questions using my knowledge about my brother and was incredibly happy when one of the other men announced that they were supposed to go the same place as I. When they asked if I wanted to accompany them on the journey I quickly agreed and we were on our way, knowing that we didn't have much longer to go.

I prayed that I had the guts to find what I needed. The army had to know something that happened to him. Don't they keep tabs on their soldiers when they, I gulped, fall?

I shook my head and continued.

* * *

I finally made it. This was where Jasper was last. I sneaked away from the men I had joined up with to find my way up here and tied my horse up and began my search.

Where had Jasper stayed? I recalled him telling me in his last letter but I knew that they usually moved quickly but a few usually stayed such as nurses, cooks, and others.

I had to find the documents that said anything at all about my brother, and I had to do it fast so I wouldn't be caught.

Multiple times when I was riding with the other men they had asked why I was so shy to do my business around the rest of them and I had blushed so hard I swore I was going to get caught.

To my astonishment they left me alone.

I looked to the sky when I noticed that night had fallen and I raised an eyebrow. Night had fallen? Already? Was I really not paying attention?

I shrugged and went back to my horse after locating an area that seemed promising. I had to copy other soldiers and salute other men I did not recognize at random intervals. I knew it wouldn't be any good for me to not fit in by some mistake like that. Oh, no, not good indeed.

When I got back to my horse I decided that I would wait till complete nightfall before starting my search. Men were still awake right now and I knew from Jasper's letters that there were far less men on duty during the night to guard things such as the documents as they were all checking other surrounding areas for Yankees.

I un-tethered my horse and decided to wait near the tent I picked out for my first bit of research but behind it slightly towards the woods. I re-tethered the horse, gave him water and some food and sat on the ground after relieving him of some of the weight he had been carrying.

I sat and listened for a while to see when things would quiet down and was awarded for my patience after the man who was supposed to be guarding the tent left. I had no idea how long he'd be so I hurried and searched through the names listed, thankful that they were surprisingly in alphabetical order.

Whitlock. _Whitlock. Whit_lock! YES! My eyes came to rest on a very small picture of my brother and a small file. My smile faded when I only saw "Currently M.I.A." scrawled next to the last duty he performed along with a note saying that his possessions were placed in box that suddenly disappeared three days after he turned up missing.

Oh, I wanted to cry. I thought for sure that they would have something they weren't telling my family. It turns out that I thought much more highly of their record-keeping skills than I should have. I placed the parchment back where I found it and stared dejectedly at the wall.

I was about to let my tears fall when suddenly I heard a gunshot nearby. I ran out of the tent quickly, pulling my rifle from my horse and quickly preparing it for fire. The shot had come from the wooded area nearby. I gulped down my fear and grabbed my bag of my most prized possessions. I'd rather have them just in case I was accidentally found and had to run.

I made my way deeper and deeper into the woods. I was trying to be very quiet and I could hear other men around me doing the same as I. We were investigating. Something happened out here. We only heard the gunshot; nothing more and that alone was suspicious; especially so close to a military base.

There was another gunshot but this time it was accompanied by a shriek. I had never heard a man make such a noise and truly it scared me. I began to berate myself for even coming all the way out here. I should be at home back in Texas in my bed mourning my brother, not here walking through woods getting more and more scared like a girl like me should be.

Oh, I wish I had listened to my mother and just stayed at home knitting, getting married off, and already having a child like the other girls my age in the town.

I stopped mentally berating myself for a split second and I noticed that everything around me had gone completely silent.

Silence.

Silence was not good in my situation. I knew that. Jasper had taught me that much. He told me bad things happen in complete silence, and he told me exactly how I would feel if something bad were going to happen.

I had that feeling. It was much, much worse than my brother had explained.

I was terrified.

I heard a twig snap in the darkness to my right and I swung my body in that direction, pointing my rifle, ready to fire.

"Hello?" I tried. "If you don't want me to shoot at you, you will say something back to save yourself!"

What I heard next was a growl. I froze and let my eyes whirl around till I felt a breath against my face.

I looked and caught a glimpse of pitch-black eyes before I felt a piercing pain upon my neck.

I pulled my trigger and barely heard the sound.

What is this? I felt my body start to weaken as with each pulse in my body my blood was taken from my body.

My _blood._ I had only heard stories of what was happening to me and never believed them and yet, here I was. I felt the hands that held me still and the face pressed up against my neck.

"No. I have to find Jasper!" I whispered.

Suddenly the pulling of my blood stopped and the thing jumped back. I fell to my knees, raising a hand to my neck. I could barely see in the blackness of the night but I knew that was it for me.

"Oh, oh, _oh, no!_" I heard the thing whisper. The vampire.

Then my neck began to burn and I let out a strangled yell that was quickly muffled by the beautiful creature. Then I was airborne, I felt my bag still on my body and felt only a small relief.

Oh, the _burning!_

This was how I was going to die?

* * *

So? How did you like it?! Please review! I really really appreciate reviews! They make me so happy and the feedback makes me improve!

REVIEW!! Please!!!


	3. Chapter 3

**

* * *

**

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all but the plot :)

* * *

Bella's POV

1863. Unknown location.

I have no idea where I am. All I know is the horrible, _excruciating_ burning that gets worse with each pulse of my heart. My throat is so raw and it takes me some time to realize it's from my screaming. I've _never_ felt such terrible pain in my life; not even when I fell down our stairs back at home and broke my arm.

No, this was much, _much_ worse than that. Then I even had Jasper to hold me while the doctor fixed me up but now I have no idea who is with me. I hear a velvety smooth voice by my ear but I hear no distinction between words to comprehend what he was saying.

I have no comprehension of the passage of time either, other than opening my eyes and seeing whether it was dark or light around me. I noticed once, when I had stopped thrashing for a moment, that I was inside some room with one window where I could see only the sky.

It's been nothing but cloudy. Just like the base I sneaked into.

I felt by body tremble as more pain than I thought imaginable flew through my body. I had burnt my hand once on a lantern when I was a child and I remember crying and screaming in pain. I couldn't move my hand without having pain lace up and down my entire hand before traveling up my arm.

That small burn had nothing on this inferno.

But I could do nothing but call out in fear and pain. I screamed, I begged, I pleaded for this beautiful man who was with me to finish me off because I was suffering more than I knew I should.

What was this infection? I had nearly no knowledge of medicine as I wasn't allowed but I knew something was terribly wrong.

Was God punishing me for something? What had I done to deserve this? I couldn't come up with any reason so I asked the man with me, "Why?!" I cried, "What have I done?"

He told me he had no answer for it was his fault.

So was I a martyr of some sort? That did not ease my fears or my pain. Nor did it make me wish for death any slower. What could this man have done in his life that made _me_ have to suffer for it?

Oh, and _Jasper_, what was my family going to do? They will never get to see either of us again. I'll never be able to please my mother by wearing those tight frilly gowns or hug my father before bed. They'll lose two children instead of one. What was I thinking coming out here? What have I accomplished?

_I've accomplished nothing more than getting myself killed._

I let the pain take me, as there was no other option, and prayed that it would end as I let loose another screech of terror and pain.

* * *

My misery had gone on so long that I no longer had a coherent thought. I couldn't form sentences nor could I form a single train of thought; only words. I had resorted to begging before giving up and just allowing my body to curl and thrash while I did nothing but scream.

I was in the middle of taking in another breath when I noticed that my fingertips had gone numb.

Blissfully numb.

I continued my scream but my mind had gone into overdrive, as had my heart in my chest. I thought it was going to burst from my chest it was pumping so _hard_ to keep me alive I guessed. But the numbness very slowly spread up through my fingers and into my hands before even more slowly numbing my arms. At the same time I noticed that my toes and feet and legs were doing the same; my legs seeming to numb only slightly faster than my arms.

I felt heavy, like lead. I suddenly couldn't move.

I closed my eyes as my screams intensified. The pain might have gone in my extremities, but my chest and head hurt all the more.

_Finally_, I thought. _I'm finally going to die_.

I wasn't surprised at the relief I felt rather than the fear of dying. Anything was better than this pain.

The numbness had spread and now it was only my heart beating fruitlessly to the rest of my dead body. I wondered why it was even bothering to try for a split second before the pain I had been feeling over I have no idea how long suddenly increased tenfold as my heart exploded.

But it didn't explode. My screams cut short as I lay still, in absolutely no pain. I felt strong.

Strong? I'm dead. I'm not strong.

But suddenly I felt all of my body. I felt different. My mind suddenly opened up and I could hear sounds I've never heard before.

"Ah, it is done."

I opened my eyes and found myself suddenly on the other side of the room entirely. I fell down into a crouch and growled.

I stopped. _Growled?!_

I looked around amazed at the clarity I saw everything in so suddenly. I saw a color I had never seen before, it looked like a violet but more beautiful. My eyes suddenly landed on the silhouette of the man who I knew had been at my side throughout my pain.

"Who are you?" I started. My voice sounded like _bells!_ It was a higher pitch than I was used to. My eyes raked over his frame. He was devastatingly beautiful, however I wasn't attracted to him.

Thoughts flew through my head at a rate I've never experienced. I monitored every move he made but he had stayed stock-still. I took a breath and smelled a wonderful sweet scent.

It reminded me of a field in the sun in the spring right after it had passed the rainy season back home. I briefly wondered how I knew exactly what that smelled like but shoved it back into my mind along with filing away his scent, looks, voice, everything about him. I wouldn't ever forget his face or scent I realized.

He had dark hair that swept over his brow and he was tall and muscular, his eyes were a curious amber color that I had never seen before. He didn't wear anything particularly nice, however he was certainly decently dressed. I watched, still tense, as he slowly raised his hands before him and stepped back a step as to give me space and said, "My name is Alistair. I have things I must tell you about yourself that are of utmost importance." His accent told me that he wasn't from the Southern states; he had no Southern drawl like we did, "What is your name?" he asked me.

"Isabella Whitlock, but I go by Bella," I raised an eyebrow, "You aren't here to hurt me?"

He smiled hesitantly and shook his head, "I will explain everything but no, I can't hurt you, not now. I did, which is what I need to explain to you, but you're much stronger than I am at the moment. Tell me, does your throat burn?"

It did just a little, but I could bear it. It merely felt like I needed a few sips of water. I shook my head.

He look astounded, "What? It doesn't? How could this be? Usually after the change you newborns are ravaged by thirst, nearly driven mad with it," he trailed off.

"No, I feel fine and perfectly sane thank-you-very-much Alistair." I said to him, now standing straight. I noticed I was still in my brother's uniform, "I'm sorry, but do you have something I could change into?" I asked.

He nodded, "Yes, but I'll get it in a moment. First, please sit and I'll explain to you what has happened and how dreadfully apologetic I am."

He sat and I sat, too. I noticed for the first time that the room I was in was sparsely furnished. I nodded for him to continue.

He explained to me that I was a vampire now and that some of our kind choose to hunt animals rather than humans (for that I was grateful), hence why his eyes were the topaz color. He explained that all of our kind was inhumanly beautiful but that for the next year my eyes were to be a crimson color so I shouldn't go outside at all where I could be seen. He explained to me that we never slept and had to travel frequently in case humans noticed we didn't age.

"No aging?" I gasped.

Alistair shook his head, "No, we don't age, Bella."

He explained that his attacking me was a complete accident. "I hunt animals, Bella, but you must understand that when we hunt, we give up our minds our instincts take over. We are programmed to hunt humans and you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. You and two other men that I accidentally drained dry before I came back to my senses."

"What happened to the other men?" I asked.

"What do you think happened to them, Bella?"

I shuddered and refrained from answering; I knew well what happened to them. I was lucky.

He explained that my change took three days and after asking me why I was dressed like a male and I told him my story, he told me that I needed to hunt.

I shook my head, "I don't know what to do!"

"Trust me, you will know exactly what to do when you are out there in the woods." He smiled, "But you won't want to hunt in a dress, believe me, so you should just come as you are. You might want to fix your hair, however, parts of it are still up in your many pins." He laughed.

I laughed nervously and pulled my hair down, brushing it with my fingers. I nodded when I was ready.

I was going to hunt and I was going to do my best. I felt a terrible pang of sadness overcome me suddenly. I looked at Alistair sadly, "I'll never be able to look for Jasper again will I?"

He shook his head, "I'm afraid that until you're safe around humans, it's impossible and who knows exactly when that will be?"

I sighed sadly. I was going to have to give up my brother forever. I'll never, ever forget his memory but I'll have to give up the search for him and get on with my un-life of sorts. I gave Alistair a small smile and motioned for him to go ahead. I was nervous.

We left the small house he was occupying. He explained that we were incredibly strong and incredibly fast. To demonstrate, he reached around a very old tree and with one tiny jerk had it uprooted and he tossed it.

He _tossed_ the old oak tree like it was a ball.

My eyes were wide and apparently I appeared comical to him for he suddenly burst into laughter. "Come Bella, let us run to hunt." And he took off.

I found myself running after him, the trees coming at me faster than anything I've ever seen, everything passing me was no more than a blur, however I could still make out every little bug, leaf, plant, and bits of bark on each and every tree as I passed.

Suddenly my senses were assaulted with the sweetest smell I've ever had the pleasure to take in and I stopped in my tracks. I snapped my head towards my left where the scent resonated from and without thinking took off in that direction.

"Bella! No! It's a human!" I distantly heard Alistair scream behind me.

The smell was intoxicating but something within my mind suddenly clicked shut and I stopped short. My superior eyesight showed me that there was a man on a horse nearly a mile ahead of me through the trees and I suddenly closed my eyes and turned away toward where I knew Alistair was running towards me.

"Bella!" He exclaimed, "You – you stopped? How? How did you stop? No newborn should be able to." He shook his head, "You should be going crazy right now. What happened?"

I shrugged, "I told myself to stop because it was a human. I don't want to hurt anyone."

He stared at me openly, I almost giggled. I had seen already how graceful he was and how gentlemanly he was and his expression was quite funny. "What? You—you told yourself to, to _stop?_ How is that _possible?_" He shook his head, "Come on we still need to get you to hunt before something like that happens again. You seem to have _incredible _restraint; completely unheard of. You simply shielded your thirst?"

I nodded.

We hunted and I had no more close calls with my thirst. It was going to take quite a bit of time to get used to my new strength and new awareness. My entire life has been altered.

But I'll never be able to see my family again.

I'm going to have to stay with Alistair for at least my first year because of my eye color, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to travel with him. He told me he had a large sum of money that he didn't need that he would give me at my year mark when I told him this after six months. I was to do what I pleased with it.

I think I'll find employment as a nurse of some sort. When I told him this Alistair had no problem with it, stating that my incredible restraint on my thirst and my mind had him positive that I would never slip up. He has a theory that I have a power as a shield of some kind.

* * *

Over my first year I learned everything I needed to know about being a vampire. I learned about the newborn wars being waged in the South by a crazy vampire named Maria. He taught me about the Volturi who are the rulers of our kind, like royalty. He warned me to never cross them as they had the resources to end my eternal existence.

I had a problem at first with never aging and never growing up but after awhile I gave up my mourning for my old life and began planning for my new one. I taught myself medicine with books Alistair bought me so I could be better prepared for my career as a nurse since there was no way I would be allowed to be a doctor as I was a woman. My seemingly endless mind took in all of the knowledge the books provided and stored them. I was beginning to feel like a library of sorts in my mind. I had taken in so much knowledge but I still had endless room for more learning.

Many of my human memories were already fading, as Alistair told me they would, but my memories of Jasper were clear as they could possibly be.

* * *

I was looking in the mirror one day fixing my hair when I noticed the change in my eyes. They were the same beautiful golden color of Alistair's. I jumped in excitement, "Alistair! Alistair! My eyes!"

He smiled at me, "Wonderful! Now you are able to go around humans without them being scared of your eyes!"

I nodded, "But that means I'm ready to go now, doesn't it?"

He smiled grimly, "Yes, yes I suppose it does."

I jumped, "Are you sure you don't want to come to England with me before we part?"

Alistair shook his head, "No, Bella. England is not the place for me. I do not like it."

I spent the day packing my many dresses and belongings that he had supplied me with. I announced that I would be leaving the following day with the rather large sum of money he had given me.

I tried to refuse it in actuality but he wouldn't take it back, "I have absolutely no use for it, Bella, take it. You will need money anyway in order to make your way over to England. You know where to find my extra home there since you won't be allowed to purchase your own place."

I nodded reluctantly and took the money he offered. I was going to run to New York to catch a ship over to Wales where I was going to make my way to the house Alistair spoke of.

"Will I ever see you again?" I asked him.

"Perhaps. I like it here in the South and I like it in northern New York. If you ever look for me, check those places first." He smiled.

I took a deep breath and sighed it out. Right now I was officially on my own for the rest of my life. I now understood what Alistair meant when he said that it was a lonely life but he preferred to be alone for the time being. I agreed.

I was off to England, unsure if I would ever see him again. He was my first friend in this new life, my only friend.

* * *

1929. New York City, NY.

I walked the streets in New York City alone. The skies were quite overcast thankfully so I knew I wasn't going to risk exposure.

Oh how I loved the new styles the humans were sporting. I was thankful that they had gotten past the corsets that had been required over the past hundreds of years and were on a kick with these loose fitting scandalously short _dresses_ called flappers. I was enthralled with being able to show any bit of my skin without worry of another woman or man frowning upon me.

I kept my hair wavy and it was currently in a twisted bun of some sort that a lady at a hair shop had shown me was in style with an odd type of boat-shaped hat with short feathers protruding from it. My dress was a loose-fitting, light blue, short-sleeved number and I wore many strands of pearls. My gloved hands carried my purse as my heeled feet carried me through the streets.

I noticed over the years that I was going to forever receive many stares for my beauty and sometimes I got a real laugh out of the men that positively tripped over themselves towards me whenever I was in public. I smiled to myself as I made my way towards one of the many banks I had put my money into. I had a feeling that something was going to happen with the money in this country and I was planning on withdrawing all of my money so I wouldn't lose it. I had worked hard for my large amounts of money and I was planning on keeping it as such.

I smiled at the teller and immediately saw his eyes glaze over. I cleared my throat and he snapped out of it quickly as I said, "Excuse me sir, I wanted to make a withdrawal. That's no problem is it?" I lay on the charm.

He grinned, "Oh no, miss. No problem at all! I'll need your name and how much you'll be withdrawing."

I gave him a smirk, "Bell Charles. I wish to withdraw everything."

Over the years I always changed my last name but at all of the banks I was using I was forced to use a variation of my first name as well for each of them.

His eyes grew wide, "All of it Miss Charles? Are you sure?"

I nodded, "Positive. Please be quick, too, I have a train to catch." That was only partly true. I still had three more banks to stop at before I made my way to the train station.

Once I received my money I nodded and wished him a wonderful day before heading out to finish my errands.

Once I sat in my seat on the westbound train I began to think back over the years since my change. I had lived in many cities under many surnames. The most common I used was a variation of my real surname usually sticking, however, with Whitlock. I frowned as I thought of my brother for a split second but shoved it away; I had other things I needed to think about such as my new employer. It was a hospital in the perpetually overcast portion of Colorado. I was again to be a nurse but I was going to be working with the mentally ill this time. I had been to many schools over the years for medicine and what little is known about psychology.

But I was going to be taking care of the physical health of the mentally ill patients at this hospital. I wasn't going to be partaking in any of the lobotomy procedures or the like. I felt that was barbaric and much too tempting for me.

I was proud that I have seemed to become desensitized to the smell of human blood. I thanked my shielding abilities for that.

I looked at my watch and noticed that I had many hours on this train before my trip was over and I needed to pretend to be a human as well as possible so I turned out my light, as it was dark outside, and closed my eyes to feign sleep. I looked forward to my new place of employment as I've never worked at a mental hospital before.

* * *

1956. Memphis, TN

I sat in the crowded dance hall as everyone around me danced to a new song by Elvis Presley. I had to admit that the man had a wonderful voice. I even found myself swinging a bit to the beat. I was impersonating a high school student again and it was prom night. I had my hair up and wore a lavender colored silk dress. I was only here to keep up appearances as it would look quite odd if I were the only girl to not attend.

I had no plans to dance. I was much too good.

* * *

1985. Astoria, OR.

It was pouring buckets of rain and I stood in the entrance of the mall looking outside wondering how I was going to pull this off. I looked down at the bags I was holding, I was afraid of getting their contents wet. I had no idea what was with the fashion trends that were going on these days.

I sighed and decided to say screw it. Yes, I, Bella Whitlock, had caught on to the slang that the humans were saying these days. I was half ashamed of myself. I shook my head as I went ahead and plowed through the sheets of rain wishing that I could use my vampire speed to run to my car but I knew I couldn't for risk of exposure.

I reached my car, unlocked it, and jumped in. I had a brand new black colored two-seater Jaguar. It was top of the line for 1985 and I loved the speed the motor allowed. I could still run faster, but this was as close as I could get to running around humans. I smiled as I turned on the engine and sped from the parking lot towards my home.

I was finally able to be a doctor now that the field wasn't sexist any longer. It was incredibly hard to pass as a doctor but I have to admit that a little makeup goes a _long_ way when I wanted to look older. I was currently a doctor in the emergency room at the local hospital. All of the vampires I had come across in my many years were astounded at my ability to brush off the scent of blood as if it were nothing.

As I drove towards home I thought about twenty years ago when I had spent time with the Volturi in Italy. Aro was particularly interested in my ability to shield with my mind, especially when I showed him that I could mentally throw my shield out to protect others from mental harm. They had asked me to join and I almost did. I spent nearly ten years with them before deciding to leave. Aro didn't want me to go and warned me that they would be searching for me in the future to keep asking if I would join. I told him not to bother and that I would find them if I ever wanted to.

I sighed as I kept my eyes on the road but not really _seeing_ it. My life was lonely. I looked back into my rear-view mirror and saw my brother's "J" blanket and smiled grimly.

I had to move again soon. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania sounds promising.

* * *

2006. Forks, WA.

I drove my sleek, black Mercedes from my new home towards the local high school in Forks, Washington. I groaned internally, wonderful. Another high school I was going to attend for two years at most. I was going to enroll today as a junior.

I pulled into the parking lot and noticed immediately that I probably should have driven something less conspicuous, perhaps my Volvo or my silver BMW. I sighed, now I was the center of attention because I hadn't thought ahead enough to foresee the possible problems of driving such an expensive vehicle to a _high school_.

I scanned the lot and saw a brand new silver Volvo was the second nicest car next to mine in the lot and refrained from sighing again.

I got out of my car, locked it and made my way to what was obviously the front office to enroll. I glared at anyone who stared at me as I walked. I was suddenly glad that I had dressed down at least for today; I wore a pair of nice jeans with a white collared shirt and a black vest under a light jacket for show as I knew that it was supposed to be slightly chillier than usual thanks go the Weather Channel. My hair was down.

I received my schedule and the lady, Mrs. Cope, asked me if I was related to anyone in the school. I shook my head and looked at her quizzically. She explained that there were other students with my same eye color. I politely told her no that I didn't believe we were at all related and turned and left for my first class.

The day had so far gone well. I had caught the scent of multiple vampires in the school, five other than myself. I noticed that we all shared the same diet and for that I was grateful. I knew that they had to have caught my scent by now too. I noted, however, that one smelled particularly familiar but I shook it off. I also caught glimpses of a few of them in the halls and confirmed my suspicions that we shared the same diet.

It was lunchtime at Forks High School and I made my way to the cafeteria. I was going to have to buy something random and sit alone and pretend to eat if I were going to keep up appearances. I rolled my eyes.

I breezed through the door and immediately noticed all eyes of the humans were on me. I scanned the room quickly, intending to look for an empty table and froze as I noticed that the other vampires I shared the school with were already there. They looked up at me as I studied them.

My eyes locked with those of the blonde male that was with them and I stopped breathing.

I recognized him.

I knew every single line of his face; I had them memorized.

His eyes widened exponentially as I saw that he recognized me too.

"Jasper," I whispered before turning and running from the cafeteria.

* * *

So?!!! What did you guys think?! Good? Bad?! She finally found her big brother!!!! :-D how exciting!

**REVIEW!!! I've noticed that I've gotten a TON of hits on this story and I'd appreciate getting more reviews from you guys to help me out.**

Reviews are the coffee and food of all writers!! THANKYOU!!!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns everything but the plot :-)**

**A/N:** I really wanted to say thank you to those of you who have reviewed and those of you who have read my story so far! I'm so thankful! I'm sure those of who you write understand how it feels to get such wonderful feedback.

I must say thank you especially to "Mad Mistress of Death" for pointing out the few historical inaccuracies. I understand that there are some and as you said that they aren't too noticeable I'm not going to mess with going through and pinpointing everything, but thank you! I really appreciate it.

I also went and checked out how many hits the fic has received and I am ASTOUNDED at the amount of traffic Finding Family has gotten! OVER 1,000 HITS! Too bad not every one of them has reviewed, I'd love to have their feedback, but oh well. I don't _always_ review either.

Someone suggested that I go through some of Jasper's experiences, I believe it was "Maggie" but I can't be sure as I don't have the review directly in front of me. But I think that's a wonderful idea and I was planning on doing it anyway as a sort of half filler – half getting on with the story chapter.

Anyway, enough of me, enjoy!

* * *

Jasper's POV

1863. Unknown location.

My entire body was on fire and had been for what felt like days. My mind had long-since been driven out as my screams carried on around me. I had no idea that dying would be so painful.

I actually had no idea what happened to me other than meeting a beautiful woman named Maria before she pounced upon me.

_Pounced_, catlike. It was graceful; it was quite terrifying too.

I felt as my body seemed to finally give in to my inevitable death and would have sighed in relief if I weren't still in such terrible pain that seemed to intensify around my heart. As the inferno became more and more intense I became certain that my heart would explode and was incredibly surprised when, suddenly, my pain went away.

My heart had stopped.

I thought it odd that I was aware that I was dead but was still hyper-aware of my surroundings. I groaned as my throat suddenly burst into flame as it burned with thirst.

Thirst? Thirst for what?

I tried to recall what had happened to me, but my mind went wild. I jumped up at a speed I didn't know I had and allowed my eyes to roll back and forth, examining my surroundings.

I stopped when I noticed a woman of unearthly beauty grinning at the far end of the room. I growled loudly.

I _growled? _Since when do I growl?

My mind recognized her, "Maria." I spat.

Her smile grew wider, "You remember! Wonderful! Come, let us quench your thirst." She flashed her crimson eyes at me. "You are now a vampire, Jasper, I will explain everything in due time, however you must be going positively _insane_."

I was. My throat was burning and my mind was slowly slipping. I followed her and we hunted.

* * *

1890. Charlotte, N.C.

We traveled to Mexico City not long after I had been changed. Maria had explained her plans for me once we realized I had the ability to manipulate the emotions of others. I guess it had something to do with my personality as a human. We had to avoid humans typically due to the color of our eyes, I learned this quickly.

I also learned that I had a purpose in this life for Maria. She recognized that I was high-ranking in the army and therefore already had knowledge on combat and immediately after recognizing my power for what it was, my purpose changed to train newborn vampires and kill them once their newborn strength started to fade. Since I could calm an entire room of extremely volatile newborns I was quite useful to her.

My physically twenty year old body appeared both young and old enough for me to pass as nearly whatever age I pleased, however I'm still deeply disturbed about what I had become nearly thirty years ago.

I was currently sitting under a tree in the warm night air, thinking back to my human life and what I could remember of it. Most vivid in my memories is my little sister, Bella. I've wondered for years what had become of her.

I'm sure she mourned me, but eventually married and I'm almost positive she had children. She would make such a wonderful mother, I think. I tried imagining what my nieces of nephews would look like but I couldn't since I couldn't quite vision a man who would be good enough for her.

She would be getting old and would die sometime in the future. I hope that I never get that news because I'm sure I would be shattered. Yes, I prefer to be kept in the dark about that, even if I can't help but be slightly curious.

I sighed as I stood. I could hear Maria calling for me in the distance. It was time for us to go hunting. My throat burned in anticipation.

* * *

1960. Montgomery, AL.

I was growing quite tired of this lifestyle I was leading with Maria. I've been at it for nearly a century and I was showing the many crescent shaped scars to prove it; they weren't very noticeable to the human eye, but to another vampire they could be seen.

I didn't mind too much, but they aren't exactly something I'm proud of anymore.

I looked down as I pulled on my right boot and saw the old blue ribbon that my sister had given me to remember her by and a strong wave of sadness overcame me as I realized that she would be dead by now. I didn't resent my life, but I certainly resented not being there for her to see her grow older and be there for her wedding. I'd give anything to have stayed human back then and go home to have her jump in my arms as I arrived back home to Houston.

I shook my head and urged the emotion of calm and serenity to flow from me and push the sadness away. I knew that the volatile newborns around where we currently were residing would pick up on the emotion and go wild. I had to be careful.

As I pulled on my other boot and stood I realized as I looked around the room Maria and I had torn apart in our _activities_ that I wanted out. I wanted to leave this lifestyle.

I had an old colleague named Peter who had a mate named Charlotte that I knew I could travel with. They had offered many years ago that I could join them and told me to find them if ever I wanted to move away from the still-raging newborn wars of the South.

I made my decision; I'm going to leave Maria and leave the newborn training to her once again. I knew she'd find someone else to do her dirty work for her though. We shared no romantic feelings however we did partake in sexual activities to pass some time on occasion, so I knew this wouldn't be much of a problem.

I nodded to myself. I was moving on.

* * *

1961. Denver, CO.

I had only been traveling with Peter and Charlotte for about a year but I don't like it one bit. I don't like all of the human sacrifice that I have to endure but I don't know of any other way. I confronted Peter about it and he told me that he wouldn't mind if I left since my depression and unhappiness was starting to affect the two of them. I realized quickly that it was time for me to leave and give being alone for once in my existence. Perhaps I'll make my way East to Philadelphia since the mountains here, as beautiful as they are, were starting to get to me.

So I gathered my few belongings and ran east.

* * *

1961. Philadelphia, PA.

It was raining something awful as I made my way into a small, half-empty diner to shelter myself from the rain. I immediately noticed the scent of another vampire and I raised my head to scan the patrons in the foul-smelling diner, water dripping from my hair.

I zeroed in on her tiny, thin figure. Her short black hair was flipped out in careful disarray and she was staring at me with a knowing smile adorning her beautiful pixie-like face. She motioned for me to come to her and I did.

"Hi!" She said brightly. "I'm Alice, you're Jasper, aren't you? Of course you are, I saw it!" She kept her voice down low so the humans that were anywhere near us didn't hear. I tried not to notice when my throat burned, but I did take note that her eyes were a light amber color.

I stared at her in confusion, "What do you mean you saw it? You saw what? How do you know my name?"

She smiled, "My power is seeing the future and I saw you coming in this diner and I saw that we were going to spend forever together. Isn't it wonderful? By the way, hearing your voice in real life is _so_ much better than in my visions. I love the southern twang, it suits you."

I stared at her before a small grin spread across my face, "Thank you," I said. "Why are your eyes different?"

She smiled brightly and I smiled back, her enthusiasm and bright emotions were infectious.

"I don't hunt humans, I hunt animals." She winked. "It's much easier to be around humans that way. Anyway, my visions showed me that we will be traveling together from now on and guess what?" She didn't wait for me to guess anything as she sped on, "We're going to join a coven of others like us that also only hunt strictly animals! Isn't it wonderful? Of course, you'll have a little bit of trouble sticking to the diet for a little while because you've obviously never tried anything other than human blood but that's okay."

I raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure you see the future? Are you sure you aren't just crazy?"

She glared at me suddenly, "Of course I'm sure! I've been having these visions for years and plus, you have a power don't you? Mine just happens to be precognition." She opened her mouth to say something else before her face went blank.

I stared at her for a moment in confusion, "Alice?" I asked, "Are you okay?"

Just as suddenly as she stopped talking she snapped out of her trance, "Vision," she supplied, "We should get out of here, that human over there is about to cut themselves on a knife and we really shouldn't be exposed to that. Come on, I'm going to teach you how to hunt animals!"

With that she threw down a few dollars onto the table in which we had just been sitting and we left the diner and left the city.

* * *

2006. Olympia, WA.

Alice was right, since I had never been taught control or how to regulate my blood lust, I did have trouble adjusting to living on animals rather than humans, but I was slowly learning thanks to her. My eyes had turned slowly to the same golden as her own, and I had gotten used to her completely random visions. She explained to me that the trick to them is that a decision must be made before any sort of vision could be concrete.

After not very long we met up with the coven she had spoken of nonstop. She already knew all of their names and as a result, so did I. I just finally had faces to place to the names, for which I was grateful. Carlisle was the leader or father figure; Esme was the mother figure and his mate. Then there was Emmett who was quite muscular and Rosalie who was the most beautiful vampire I had ever set my eyes upon as his mate. Edward was alone but usually spent his time playing and composing music.

By this time I had recognized that Alice (who had through her visions gathered years ago that the surname of most of the coven we would be joining was Cullen, had adopted that last name as her own as she couldn't remember her own from when she was a human) was my soul mate. We grew to love one another and were married.

My only regret about that was that my little sister wasn't there to see it.

Over the years we moved and I pretended to be Rosalie Hale's twin brother whenever we were around humans, so I adopted the surname Hale as my own, leaving Whitlock for other times. We all went to many high schools and colleges and had each gained an immense wealth over the years, however, my new family had already accumulated much even before Alice and I joined.

I still have the hardest time out of our entire family being around humans, however I've gotten much better about it. Now I only barely struggle in school, but I still have to hunt frequently to keep it that way.

We have school starting soon, less than fifteen minutes judging by the clock on the mantle. Emmett and I were currently in the middle of a very heated battle, playing Halo on our X-box.

"No! Dude that is _so_ cheating!" Emmett's big booming voice carried through the house.

I laughed, "No it's not Emmett! I didn't cheat! Face it, I'm just better than you are. Now pay up, you owe me a thousand." I held out my palm and Emmett grudgingly counted out ten one hundred dollar bills and placed them in my hand. I grinned, "Thank you."

"Shut up. I want a rematch after school you cheat." Emmett grumbled.

We both looked up at the entrance of our adoptive mother, Esme, to the room. "Boys," she smiled, "I hope you're ready to go, you need to leave soon."

"We know," we said in unison just as Alice, Rosalie, and Edward bolted down the stairs. Alice seemed slightly sour as she frowned slightly.

"What's wrong Alice?" I asked.

"We'll see I suppose. There's a new girl today. I think she's a Vegetarian vampire like we are. I'm not sure how I feel about her yet."

I tensed slightly, "Another vampire? In Forks? What are the odds…?" I trailed off, shrugging.

We picked up our school bags and made our way out to Edward's silver Volvo as Esme stood out on the porch to see us off.

"Have a good day!" She said quietly, knowing we would be able to hear her, "Please, _please_ don't do anything stupid today you all."

We looked to Emmett, "What?" He said. We laughed and once Edward started the car we were off towards Forks High School.

We were right on time as we pulled into our usual spot and got out and, after giving Alice a kiss, separated to go to our classes.

Throughout the day I caught bits of the scent of the new vampire Alice spoke of and I tried to catch glimpses of her throughout the first few periods of the day. I never saw her.

As lunch arrived we sat at our usual table with our props of human food as we stared out in random directions. My arm was around Alice's shoulders and I happened to be looking at the cafeteria doors when they breezed open to reveal the female vampire.

I froze just as my eyes locked onto hers and I suddenly recognized her scent. She too froze as she obviously recognized me as well and I saw as she let out a breath and whispered my name.

"_Jasper,"_ she whispered before turning and bolting from the room.

"No," I whispered, "No. It can't be." I stood suddenly, fully intent on following her.

"What? Jasper, who was that? How do you know her?" Alice demanded. I felt confusion and _jealousy_ coming from her. The voices of my family flowed at the same time as her questions as they too asked who this girl was.

I was already walking swiftly across the cafeteria and didn't answer them as I left and followed her scent outside.

My Bella was here! She was a vampire! Oh, _no,_ how could this have happened?!

I knew Edward could hear those thoughts and I knew that the rest of my family was following me as I ran full out through the woods in search of Bella.

She's _alive!_

* * *

Well, it's sort of a cliffie! What did you guys think?!!! I want REVIEWS! They help me out so so much!

By the way, yeah I know it was more of a filler chapter than anything but hey, at least you guys got a look at what Jasper has been up to!

**Want me to update? Well, then REVIEW and you'll get your wish.**

Until then! :-)


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns everything but the plot! ;) **

A/N: Wow!! I'm impressed with all of the wonderful feedback I've been getting! As of right now, '**Finding Family' has a total of 2,467 hits, 70 favorites, and 110 alerts!!!** Can you imagine how amazing this makes me feel?! I love it! Thank you so so much everyone!

Also, as a small side note, I've added to my profile a few pictures that inspired the dresses Bella wore in chapter 1. I've also added pictures of Bella's cars. I plan to add more as the story progresses.

To answer the question posed by 'Stupidlamb13,' no, Bella doesn't know Alice. Alice is from Biloxi, MS and was a vampire long before 1929 when Bella was on her way to work as a nurse in that mental hospital in Colorado.

* * *

Bella's POV

2006. Forks, WA

I paid absolutely no attention as I ran through the halls of Forks High School. I knew instinctively that there were no humans as all of them were in the cafeteria so I ran full out towards the forest on the far side of the parking area.

I briefly took note of my black Mercedes SL600 that was sitting in its parking spot as I flashed past it. I leapt through the woods while I was swallowed with an odd mixture of grief and relief at the sight of my brother. I haven't seen him in 145 years and now I suddenly see him sitting in a lunchroom in the small town of Forks, Washington.

I was overcome by the grief that he too was a vampire like me. I had grown accustomed to the thought that he had died back in 1863 when I was changed and had to give up the dream of finding him.

As the grief overcame me, I stopped and let myself fall in the grass of a small clearing in the woods. I curled in on myself for a moment and allowed myself to cry tearless sobs. Jasper wasn't supposed to be cursed to this life like I had been! He was supposed to be in the afterlife with out parents watching over me!

I let myself cry while I let my thoughts take me, but as I cried I began to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Jasper was _here_ in Forks where I could have the chance to be around him again. My _brother_ was _here!_

I let myself grin in relief. While he wasn't dead where I would never see him, he was here as alive as we could possibly get where I could see him and talk to him.

My relief was short-lived however when within a split second I was filled with anger at myself for my reaction. What was I _thinking_ running away from him like that?! I know he recognized me just as I had recognized him and if I remember him correctly, there was no question on that, he probably was hurt that I ran. I shook my head and smoothed out my hair as I stood to go back to apologize to my brother for my reaction.

As I turned my ears picked up the sound of running. I quickly and correctly guessed that it was the sound of vampires as their footfalls were very light and quick. My eyes sought out their source and immediately I saw who appeared to be the fastest in my brother's coven.

I nearly gasped at the sheer _beauty_ of this creature; I've never seen anyone or anything quite as wonderful to look at as him. He was slightly lanky, and his bronze hair blew behind him as he ran. His golden eyes immediately alerted me in the back of my mind to the fact that we shared the same diet. His chiseled features were contorted in confusion, annoyance, and caution.

He seemed to only be looking in my direction, not _at_ me when he spoke, "Who are you? Why are you —," His words died mid-sentence as he looked into my eyes. I heard his breath hitch slightly before he seemed to snap out of it and took a step forward.

The moment he took that step, however, another vampire jumped in front of him, grabbing his shoulder, I recognized him as my brother.

"Edward! Stop, it's okay! I know her!" Jasper said quickly.

Just as Jasper began his sentence to whom I now knew was Edward, I noticed the rest of his coven has arrived. I scanned my eyes over them quickly.

One of them was rather large, muscular. His face showed glee at what I gathered was the chase of me and I took in his short dark curly hair, golden eyes and over-all appearance; he seemed rather good-natured to me. My eyes traveled to the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen: her light blonde hair that traveled in perfect waves down her back; her tall thin body; her breathtakingly beautiful face that was drawn into a scowl. She was dressed impeccably, not a single part of her clothing seeming to have been disturbed with her running through the forest after me. At last my eyes settled on a very small pixie-like girl who was, of course, absolutely gorgeous. Her short black hair was in spiked disarray, her frame clothed in what I noticed were, just like the others' as well as myself, designer quality. She wasn't quite glaring at me, however she was just as cautious and careful as the others in her coven.

They didn't know me, so they were careful to stay a short distance away. I chanced a glance back at the pixie-like girl and tried again to place the other emotion in her gaze with no success.

All of this had taken me merely a second to take in as I settled my gaze back to my brother and Edward. Jasper had let go of him and was now staring at me with longing and disbelief in his eyes.

"Jasper," I whispered just as he leapt towards me, embracing me. I clutched at him desperately; it had been much too long since I had been embraced, let alone by my only brother. "Oh God, Bella I've missed you! I thought you were dead!" I could only shake my head.

He pulled back slightly to look at me. He placed both of his hands on either side of my face and, as I was doing to him, re-memorized my face as he looked into my eyes.

"I thought you were dead." He repeated.

I shook my head, "Obviously not, Jazz."

Someone cleared a throat and we both looked over towards the small pixie-girl that was glaring fiercely and I finally gathered that the unknown emotion in her eyes was _jealousy_. I glanced at the God-like Edward and caught a slight jealousy in his gaze as well; I was confused, why would he be jealous?

My brother grabbed my hand and our embrace ended. He turned to his coven with a large smile on his face and they seemed taken aback at his smile.

He gestured at me, "Everyone, this is Bella. Bella this is my family," He pointed at them all as he introduced them and I learned that the muscular one was Emmett, the blonde was Rosalie, and the pixie-girl with who was now glaring was Alice. When he pointed at Edward I knew I would have been blushing had I still been human.

"What is this, Jasper?" Alice suddenly burst out.

Edward shook his head, "Who is she to you? Why did you think 'my Bella' when we were running?"

Alice suddenly shook, "_Your _Bella?!" She shrieked.

Jasper realizing what she meant quickly jumped in, "Alice! Calm down, please! Bella is my _sister! _My biological _sister!_"

Everyone froze.

"What?" Alice whispered, her face no longer showing any bit of jealousy or betrayal.

"She's my sister, everyone. My little sister from when I was human." Jasper said, and I felt an odd wave of calm settle over the area.

Alice gasped suddenly, "Oh! Oh!" Her small hands went to her mouth in horror, "Oh, no! I'm so sorry! I had no idea! I thought, I thought…" She shook her head.

I suddenly spoke to help her, "You thought I was someone Jasper was in love with from his past?"

My brother looked at me quickly then back at Alice, "Alice, darling, you know everything that I know of from my past. I would never lie to you."

She looked from Jasper to me, then back again, "I know. I'm sorry! I overreacted." Her face suddenly broke into a large smile and I immediately thought that I would much rather a smile be on her face than a frown, "I have a sister-in-law! A _real_ sister-in-law! This is _so_ exciting!"

I smiled in relief as my eyes traveled along to whom my brother introduced as his family and saw quickly the changes in their demeanors when he had reassured them that I was his sister and nothing more. They all seemed much more pleasant and not nearly as threatening as before. When I glanced at Edward I saw he was frowning slightly, but seemed quite elated at something.

I chose not to voice my concerns mostly because Jasper suddenly rounded on me, "Bella, what happened to you?! Not that I'm not incredibly happy to see you, but you're supposed to have died long ago!" He looked tortured.

I was about to answer him when Alice interrupted me, "We shouldn't do this here. If we do, the school will notice our absence and will start calling around for us before starting a search and they would start looking in this direction."

I looked curiously at her, how in the world would she know that?

For the first time, Rosalie spoke, "Never bet against Alice. We should sign ourselves out and drive home. Carlisle and Esme would want to meet her." She looked kindly at me.

"Carlisle and Esme? There are two more in your family?!" I gasped, "I've never heard of so many of us sticking together except for the Volturi!"

Emmett suddenly gave a loud, boisterous laugh, "Yeah, well, Carlisle thinks it's something to do with us all choosing animals over humans."

Edward looked at me and spoke, his voice flowed over me like a velvet blanket, "How many are in yours, Bella?"

I shrugged quickly, "Just me. It's always been that way since a year after I was changed."

"You're alone?!" Jasper gasped, "What?! Why are --," but I was saved by Alice who seemed to dance to us and grabbed his arm lightly, "Jasper, we can discuss this at home. We need to go back now."

"Bella, you can sign yourself out right? You won't need to have to pretend to have anyone call ahead for you?" Edward asked.

I shook my head as we all simultaneously leapt through the air and began running back through the forest, "No, I'm fine. I forged and gave them papers saying I was an emancipated minor."

* * *

When we arrived back at the school we went to the office and signed ourselves out without any trouble and made our way outside to the parking lot. I scanned the lot for my own black Mercedes SL600 and, after locating it, turned to my brother and his family.

"I don't know where you live, but I can follow you." I said looking at them as they stopped by a silver Volvo C70 that was identical to my own Volvo back at my home; mine was a light blue however. "I'm in the black Mercedes. Nice Volvo by the way, mine is a light blue, same model."

Edward nodded, "That's fine. We live in Olympia; it's just outside of Forks. Thank you, by the way."

Jasper was quickly at my side, "I'll ride with Bella and we'll meet you there," he said with finality in his voice. He looked down at me, as I was obviously shorter than him, "Sound okay?" he asked.

I smiled as I nodded, "Of course it's okay! I haven't seen you in a hundred and forty-five years! I want as much time with you as possible!" I turned to face the others, "Drive fast, okay? I hate going slow."

They all burst into laughter and agreed as Jasper and I made our way over to my car.

"You don't seem very keen on not standing out." He laughed. I shrugged.

"At least it's not an ostentatious red or anything. It was this, my Volvo, or my BMW, and it was a split second decision to drive this today." I unlocked it and we got in.

"Nice." He grinned, as I turned the ignition and it purred to life. The radio blared to life and the local mainstream station flowed through the speakers. I smiled, "Thank you. I love it." I put it into reverse and backed out of the spot. Slamming it into drive I saw Edward's Volvo waiting at the parking lot exit and made my way over to where it was waiting.

The moment I got within twenty feet of his car, he floored it and was gone. Thrilled, I did the same with my own car and smiled at the obvious challenge.

"You're going to race?" Jasper said incredulously, "You don't know where you're going?!"

"Olympia." I said simply. "We aren't racing, anyway. I just asked him to drive fast and that's what he's doing." I looked at him as my car reached 125 miles per hour, "But thanks for the idea, I'll have to challenge him, he's obviously the fastest in your coven."

He shook his head, "You shouldn't race!"

I gave him a withering look, "You haven't seen me in almost one hundred and fifty years. You've never seen me drive."

That made him go silent for a moment.

We were crossing a small bridge and we weren't anywhere near topping out our cars speeds when he spoke, his voice was sad, "I'm sorry Bella." He whispered.

I looked at him again, this time my face was questioning, "Why are you sorry?"

"I'm sorry for not coming to find you ever. I have trouble adjusting to not feeding off of humans, but I still should have come to find you!"

I shook my head, "That's in no way your fault. Normal newborns from what I've gathered over the years are absolutely insane at first and then it's usually very hard to keep any bit of control as the years go on." I tried, "It's not your fault at all. I should have tried some more though; I had nearly no problem at all. I've never slipped."

He stared at me, "No problem at all? What do you mean?"

I shook my head, "I'll explain it all in one go with everyone there, it's easier that way. But, basically I have a gift of impeccable control. The bloodlust was always there for me, but I'm a mental shield. I was able to lock it away and shield myself from it."

"Incredible," he whispered. He then turned his head and watched the trees go by, appearing to be in deep thought.

I noticed after not long that Edward was hitting his brakes and I gathered it was in preparation to turn into a nearly unnoticeable driveway, and I mimicked him, doing the same with my car. Once we turned we whipped back up to speed as we twisted and turned along the drive and quickly the trees around us thinned out before abruptly ending to reveal a beautiful sprawling estate.

The house was a large, gorgeous, white Victorian style home. "You're house is beautiful, Jasper."

"Esme is the decorator," he said simply.

When we stopped I put my car into park and turned off the ignition before stepping out. I noticed Rosalie eyeing my car with interest.

"Do you like it?" I asked her.

She nodded, "Would you mind if I took a look at it later?"

I shook my head, "As long as you don't hurt it…" I trailed off.

Emmett laughed, "Don't worry Bells," He grinned, "Rose here is our resident mechanic. She knows more about cars than anyone."

I smiled widely at the new nickname he had given me, I was going to like Emmett immensely. I looked over to Edward and saw he was once again frowning slightly as he looked in my direction.

Jasper and Alice suddenly took my hands simultaneously and dragged me towards the house. Alice opened the door for us and, even though she needn't have done so, shouted, "Esme! Carlisle! We're home! We have our surprise I called about!"

Jasper rolled his eyes as I looked at her, "I'm sure you could have refrained from shouting so close to us. Our ears would have loved it if you had."

She brushed my comment off and we quickly found ourselves in the spacious family area where there were couches, a large television, and various game consoles, games, a stereo, and large amounts of pictures of them all.

"Hello there," a kind voice said to my left. I turned and took in her beautiful face, caramel colored hair and kind smile, "I'm Esme. From what Alice has told us on the phone, you must be Bella."

I nodded, "It's a pleasure to meet you." I smiled.

"You have the same accent as Jasper," she came and sat upon one of the sofas. She turned to the rest of the family, "Carlisle is on his way, as you know, he was at the hospital."

"He will be here in exactly one minute," Alice practically bounced.

I studied her, she was quite hyperactive. From what I had gathered in the very short time I knew her, she was very sweet, albeit a very bouncy person. I decided to voice my opinion, "You're very bouncy." I said to her.

Suddenly, they all burst into laughter, Alice simply smiled.

"That's Alice for you," Jasper said as he placed an arm around her shoulders.

I suddenly had a question for her, how did she know Carlisle would arrive in a minute? Could she see the future or something? I looked at her curiously, "How did you know he would be here in that exact amount of time?"

She smiled and tapped her head, "It's my gift. I can see bits of the future, but since the future isn't set in stone, it changes from time to time. The trick is making a decision."

I nodded, this was interesting! "Are you the only one with an ability?" I asked.

Esme spoke up, "No, Jasper can feel and manipulate emotions and Edward can hear thoughts."

Startled, I looked at my brother and then to Edward, "You know what I'm thinking?" I said, incredulous.

He shook his head quickly, "No, not yours. You mind is shielded. It's odd, I've never experienced anything like it." He seemed frustrated. I immediately smiled, I understood why he couldn't.

"Oh, I get it. I'm a mental shield." He looked at me, questioning. "I have a shield over my mind so I'm immune to mental attacks and mental powers. I can throw it from me and protect another person's mind too if I wished. I can draw it into myself too."

My brother's family stared at me, "You can do that?" Emmett asked. "Dude, that's so cool! Edward can't hear what you're thinking!" He burst into laughter, "That's so awesome! It's got to be eating at him!"

"Is that why you've been frowning at me?" I asked.

He looked slightly startled, "I wasn't frowning _at_ you, per se. I was frowning because I didn't understand why I couldn't hear you." I noticed he wasn't frowning at me anymore and that made me happier than I believed it should have.

I smiled before turning to my brother, now relieved that Edward couldn't read my mind and that I now knew why he was frowning at me constantly, "You can feel and manipulate emotions? An empath?"

He nodded, "I'll have to tell you about it later. Carlisle is here."

We all looked as the front door opened to reveal a very handsome man with blonde hair and a pale, kind face. He was dressed business-like and from his I.D. tag he still wore which read _Dr. Carlisle Cullen, M.D._, I gathered that he was at the hospital like Esme said because he was a doctor there. I knew we would get along well as I too had more than one medical degree.

We were introduced and quickly found our way back to sitting down in the family room. My brother sat next to me as the rest looked on.

"Bella," Jasper started, "What happened to you?"

I took a breath and looked out towards the floor to ceiling windows on the one side of their house and began my story.

* * *

Well? What do you think?! They finally met up!! … Don't get too relieved, there's much to come! This isn't going to be a short story!

Stay tuned to their reactions to her story and as Bella and Edward get some alone time *nudge nudge* hehe

**REVIEW!!!** Thank you everyone for all of the feedback I've been getting. It's absolutely wonderful!

I can't wait to read your reviews before I post the next chapter of 'Finding Family'!!!!!

REVIEW PLEASE!


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns everything but my plot! :)**

AN: Hello my loves! I'm sorry it took a little while to update but anyway... Thank you so so so much for all of your reviews!! I appreciate it more than you could know! You guys seriously were the 2nd best Christmas presents I got! ... The absolute best being my new Macbook that my boyfriend bought me!! I didn't want anything this year and couldn't think of anything so he literally dragged me to the Kenwood Mall out here (I mean LITERALLY dragged me) and gave me 3 choices: a purse from the Coach store, diamond earrings from a jewelry store, OR a Macbook from the Apple store. I chose the most practical of the 3 and got my Macbook!! I love it! I thought I wouldn't because I'm super used to his Dell laptop but it's really easy and fun to use! :) If you have a Macbook or a Mac, you SO know what I mean!

Anyway, in response to "shortie2010", I'm sorry that you think it sounds like a romance between Bella and Jasper, but trust me, it's completely NOT a romance between them. I am TOTALLY Bella/Edward, and you'll soon find that any romance Bella has is between her and Edward. :)

A LARGE thanks to "Projekt-Failure", "truelover", "missyskywalker", and "vkballerina" for their long, helpful reviews, and of course thank you to my ever-loyal "rougekat" and others for their wonderful reviews! Now, ON WITH THE STORY!

* * *

Bella's POV

2006. Forks, WA.

I let go of my breath that I took in while I kept looking out of the large windows. I allowed my eyes to flash over the Cullen family, resting for a moment on the Adonis look-a-like, Edward, and then traveling over my brother.

"Where should I start? When you left, or when I went to find you?" I asked.

Jasper went rigid, "Went to find me?! You- you went to _find_ me?!"

I nodded slowly, "After Mama and Papa got the news you had disappeared. Maybe I should start there, yes?"

"Did anything happen after Jasper left for war, you know, before he disappeared?" Alice asked quickly in an obvious attempt to keep Jasper from yelling, "If anything did, then maybe you should start there."

I shook my head, "No, not really. I kept up my practice of shooting and Papa still worked with me on throwing a good punch like you wanted me to. He wasn't exactly as in to teaching me as you were though..."

A roar of laughter suddenly burst from Emmett, "You taught your sister how to do all of that?!" He turned from Jasper to me, "Were you any good?"

"At which? Shooting or punching?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Both!" he grinned eagerly, rubbing his large hands together in anticipation.

I grinned, all of the Cullen's seemed very interested in my abilities that were very unheard-of for a woman during that time in history. Esme had her eyebrows drawn together in concern, Carlisle looked merely interested, Alice was practically bouncing in her seat, Rosalie was only looking intently at me, Emmett looked so eager, and Edward's brow's were drawn up in mild-disbelief, and my brother looked proud. He knew I was good before he even left.

"Oh, I got _really_ good at throwing a punch. I knocked out one of the boys in town once because he wouldn't leave me alone. He kept badgering me to allow him to see me alone sometime and I got fed up with it and just hit him. Mama thankfully never found out, but Papa gave me a little talking-to..."

Jasper and Emmett burst into laughter, "What about shooting?" Emmett asked, "I bet you weren't all that good at that."

I narrowed my eyes, "I was better than Jasper after he left."

That silenced them. Apparently they knew that my brother was a master shot.

I grinned, "I could shoot any target anyone could give me. Ask Jasper. Before he left, I couldn't get _everything_ perfectly, but I got pretty close."

I looked at my brother who was nodding in agreement, "Bella was actually an incredible shot, especially for a girl of that time. No other girl back then would have dreamed of touching a rifle, let alone shoot it with the accuracy Bells had. Have you kept up with it all of these years?"

I nodded, "Yes. I love showing up men at the range when they challenge others to hit whatever little thing they throw in the air. It's quite funny. It's not exactly fair now that my senses are hundreds of times better than when I was human, but still. I'll have to show you sometime. Anyway, back to the story.

"It was about two years after Jasper left that we received the news that he had disappeared. I recall that we hadn't gotten a letter from him in nearly a month which was odd because Jasper usually wrote us at least once every two weeks. We were getting worried!

"Mama and I were in the sitting room waiting for the mail boy, yet again, when we heard galloping outside. We rushed outside and I knew immediately when I saw that it wasn't the mail boy. It was two Confederate soldiers riding up towards our home. I remember Mama shouting for Papa to come quickly and us receiving the news that no one was able to find you." I paused, my eyes moving to my brother who had straightened.

"I disappeared because another vampire, Maria, found me and bit me. I assumed at the time that she was a straggler and I offered her my aid. She was one of those behind the newborn wars and intended for me to be one of them," He began quickly, "After she noticed I had a special ability that would help her, she kept me around to train newborns."

I nodded in understanding, "That explains what happened then I suppose. Anyway, I was so torn and upset that you had gone missing. You know how close we were; it was ridiculous. I ran to my room after Papa read the letter we received from the soldiers out loud and locked myself in, crying for hours." I stood and walked to the windows, studying the tree-line as I spoke, my mind flowing back in time, "Once I had calmed down a bit, around nightfall I believe, the most suicidal yet incredible idea formed in my head." I looked directly at Jasper, "You do recall that too-small uniform that you left behind?"

His eyes went impossibly wide, "You DIDN'T! Isabella, tell me you didn't! Please?!"

"You took your brother's uniform and _went to war _to _find him?!"_ Edward was incredulous. I looked to him, confused, why would this bother him so?

Jasper stood, "Bella, you did? You really did? Why?! Not that I feel wonderful that you cared so much, but still, why would you do that?"

"Because I needed to find you! You were my brother! You were the only reason Mama didn't marry me off to some boy from town or the first rich man that came to our door!" I cried. I shook my head and continued with my story, "Besides, at the time I thought that they weren't telling us everything. I thought that by going, I could get more information about what happened to you and, if I could find you, bring you back and if I couldn't find you, be at peace. I couldn't stand not knowing everything about what happened.

"Since I knew that because I was a woman, I wouldn't be able to get the information I wanted. So, that night I pinned my hair to my head, put on the uniform, stole lots of food and water, Papa's extra rifle, ammunition, prepared a horse and left in the middle of the night when Mama and Papa were asleep. I travelled for what seemed like forever before I came across some other men that were ironically heading to exactly where I was going. I was relieved that no one suspected that I was a woman, which would have ended badly for me if they would have found out."

"Damn right it would have!"

My brother was certainly not very happy with me at the moment. I shrugged, "But no one thankfully found out."

"No offense or anything," Rosalie spoke up, "but how did you manage to pass for a man when you so obviously have breasts?"

I laughed, "That was easy! I tied my leggings tightly around my chest and once I had the uniform on and buttoned up, you couldn't tell the difference. Oh, and no offense taken."

I smiled at her quickly before returning to my story, "Once I had arrived at Jasper's base I decided to give my horse a rest and sat to wait for nightfall to begin my search. I was desperate for any information that I could get. I had thought that since they were the army, they would keep good records, or at least attempt to, but to my dismay there wasn't anything written about you other than you were missing in action after you went on a patrol. I was devastated."

I paused here, the pain coming back to the surface. This time it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been in the past since now I knew that he was actually okay, in a way. He wasn't quite alive, but he wasn't dead either. I felt a wave of calm hit me and suddenly I looked at my brother who also looked pained.

"I'm sorry Bells," he whispered, "I wish there was something I could've done, but at the time, I was a newborn; I had no control. I would have killed you!"

I nodded, "I know that now, Jazz, but at the time I didn't. But thanks for the thought." I sighed, "As I said, I was devastated. I had to return home with nothing and face our mother's wrath for leaving in the middle of the night and everything. But I didn't even get the time to put my belongings back on the horse when I heard gunshots and a scream."

I sat back down and with my eyes on Edward, continued, "I ran out of the tent that had the records I looked through (I still, for some reason, had my bag with my most precious belongings still strapped around me) but grabbed my rifle, loaded it and took off towards the sound.."

I took a deep breath and in my mind, I was back in 1863, walking through the woods as I kept recounting my story.

"No!" Jasper was standing again and he came towards me, "How could you be so stupid Bella?! You should've ran _away_ not _towards_ the sound!" He grabbed both of my arms roughly and I heard Edward growl, "What were you _thinking?!_ Anything that could have gotten me could've still been out there!"

I growled at him, my eyes flashing, "I knew that Jasper, but I wanted to go! Yes, I was absolutely terrified, especially when I heard one of the men shriek! I had never heard a man make a sound like that before in my life, and it terrified me," I pulled away from him, "I went farther and father into the woods which was when I heard that man scream. I started to berate myself, wishing that I had truly just stayed home like a good little lady but once I noticed that everything around me had gone completely silent, my fear that had started to dissipate came back full force."

I shook my head as I remembered what happened next, "I knew that I should've ran but I was frozen to the spot when I heard a twig snap to my right. I know now that it wouldn't have made any bit of difference since he had caught my scent while hunting, but it seemed like a good idea at the time." I laughed quickly. It was a short slightly hysterical laugh that made my shoulders shake and Jasper step back, "I called out threatening to shoot but I suddenly heard a growl and breath on my face as I froze. Then he bit me. I barely recall pulling the trigger as he drank from me but something pulled him out of it and he let me go. I heard him whisper in anguish wondering what he had done when the burning began."

I stopped speaking for a moment and looked around, anywhere but at my brother or Edward or any of the Cullen's.

I was lost in my memories of the pain again, of my mindless cries and pleas for death. My mind wasn't in the Cullen's sitting room anymore but I was quickly brought back when I felt small but strong arms circle my shoulders and a head on my shoulder. I looked down in surprise and saw that it was Alice that had come to comfort me.

"Alice?" I questioned.

She looked up at me, her eyes sad but encouraging, "It's okay you know, everyone remembers the burning. I don't remember a thing from my human life but I certainly remember bits of the burning from the change." She squeezed my shoulders, "You're family now and believe me," she suddenly gave me a large, gorgeous smile, "there are no secrets in this house!"

I smiled back at her and nodded, "Thank you, Alice." She let go of me, but kept a hand on my knee for comfort as I began again.

"As you all obviously remember the pain, I'll bypass that, sorry for my spacing out."

"That's fine!" "No problem." "Of course, Bella." "Understandable." "We don't mind at all, dear." The Cullen's replies rang out around me, Alice's being the loudest, "As I said, you're family, who cares?"

"I remember, just before the pain, thinking that now I'd never know what happened to my brother, but the pain took all coherent thought away from me," I sighed quickly, "The next thing I remember after the change was waking up and meeting Alistair, the vampire who changed me. He too drank from animals usually, as his eyes were gold, but as I said, he caught my scent while hunting and thought it delectable. He explained everything to me, and showed me, after I freaked thinking that I would hurt other people, that hunting animals was an option and I immediately jumped on that wagon." I smiled at the chuckles that surrounded me. I could get so used to being around them, they were so wonderful to me so far and I had only known them in the time it's taken me to explain up to here about my life.

"It didn't take me long after having run-ins with other vampires that I had an ability. I later guessed that my ability was what my control came from." I looked at Carlisle, who had straightened in his seat in interest, "You see, I'm a mental shield. I explained this before you arrived Carlisle, but basically, Edward cannot hear my thoughts because of this shield. This shield over my mind makes me immune to mental attacks and mental powers. I can throw it from me and protect another person's mind too if I wished. I can draw it into myself too."

He nodded, "How interesting! You'll have to tell me more about this later, but please, continue." He made a waving gesture with his right hand, motioning for me to continue. Esme smiled brightly at his side.

I continued by telling them about my first year, reminding them about my impeccable control, and giving them a brief summary of the rest of my existence up until now.

* * *

"... and then I walked into the cafeteria, saw you, and ran because I was so scared and sad that you, too, had been changed Jasper. You chased me and here we are." I finished.

The Cullen's were staring at me; a few of them had their mouths open slightly. Jasper's expression looked like a cross between him being impressed, scared, wounded, and like he was in pain.

"Jazz? You okay, man?" Emmett laughed, "Dude, you just found out that your little sister is freaking badass, dude. Sure it sucks that she's a vamp now but still."

Jasper nodded and looked at me, "I'm glad that you're okay," he started, "but I _swear to God_ that if you do _anything_ that stupid again, I'll kill you myself."

I grinned, "What could I get myself into?"

"Please, just promise me Bella that you won't go off doing something that stupid again..." Jasper tried again.

I huffed, "Honestly, Jazz I've spent my time in school learning nursing and then many times over I went to med school, not to mention the countless times I've gone to high school! What if I get bored?" I whined, "I do that, you know, get bored. Sometimes a girl's gotta go do crazy stuff like skydiving and other crazy dangerous things!"

I was startled by the growls that both Jasper and surprisingly Edward emitted. I'd like to pull him aside sometime and ask him what his deal was but I knew I couldn't because I'd stumble over my words and get all shy. He was breathtakingly beautiful. I wondered quickly if he was taken but I pushed that to the back of my mind, I could ignore that thought and wish he was mine. I shook my head, what was I thinking? I've only met the man and now I'm wishing he was mine?! Was I going insane? I shook my head again.

Alice suddenly squealed, startling me again, and clapped her hands together. "Yes!" She squealed, "Wonderful! And no, Edward, I won't unblock you!" She had turned and pointed a finger at Edward and I once again found myself swooning before mentally shaking myself out of it.

I looked at her oddly before remembering that she had visions and she confirmed my suspicions by stage whispering to me, "Vision!" I smiled shyly and giggled a little.

My eyes traveled around the room once again, actually taking in the luxuries that the Cullen's obviously spent their time in when my brother spoke up, "Wait a minute, you said that you've been alone since your first year was up and your eyes changed from red to gold?"

I nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

Edward cut in, obviously catching my brother's train of thought, "Why would the vampire who changed you let you be on your own? Why would you want to be on your own without a coven or family? Impeccable control be damned."

I shrugged, I figured this would come up sometime, especially after Jasper brought it up in the woods after we ran from the high school. "I guess it's just that I didn't want to have any other family than the one I lost when I was human. Alistair was a wonderful person, he bestowed upon me money and all sorts of dresses and anything I wanted really. He taught me everything I needed to know about not exposing us and he taught me how to act as human as I could." I shrugged again, "Yes, I suppose I really didn't want to bother with getting another family subconsciously." I walked towards the back door, "Do you mind if I go hunting or something? All of this reminiscing has made me thirsty, it's taken a lot out of me."

Jasper stood and, either from overprotectiveness or just wanting to be around me after so long, said, "I'll go with you."

I was about to protest when suddenly Edward and Alice stood too, both agreeing and deciding to go too. I was ruled out.

"Okay." I said, slightly suspicious, but I brushed it off.

* * *

After we had each hunted and caught mostly deer, (me catching Edward staring at me a few times, but I'll admit, I snuck around a bit to catch a glimpse of him hunting too) we met back up in a small clearing.

"I want to get to know my new sister! We need to decide when you're going to move in!" Alice jumped up and down, "This is so exciting!"

I was shocked, move in? What? "I beg your pardon?" I said, "Move in?"

"Of course you have to move in, Bella," Jasper nodded.

"Do I get a choice in the matter?" I asked, but they began to laugh.

This time, it was Edward's wonderful, honey-like voice that spoke, "Not anymore, especially now that Alice and Jasper have decided that you will." He winked at me and I felt my knees go weak. I looked away, an odd, fluttering feeling beginning in my stomach.

Jasper have the both of us an odd look and Edward looked to him suddenly and unnecessarily cleared his throat. I guessed that Jasper had thought something that caught Edward's attention. I shrugged it off and jumped into a tree with every intention to climb high into it and look out and catch the scenery. I left the two of them to have their conversation.

Alice was already at the top of my tree, and at my questioning look she simply tapped her head, making me roll my eyes playfully.

"So," she whispered, "When do you want to move in?" I opened my mouth to answer that at this point I didn't mind since I was sure I didn't have much of a choice in the matter when she spoke up again, "Oh, and when do you want to go on a date with Edward?"

I was suddenly stupefied.

* * *

Well, what did you guys think? I'm sorry if it's really not much of a chapter, but I hope it was enough! Be nice, this is my Christmas present to you guys! I wrote this on Christmas day for you guys! lol 3,652 words! Merry Christmas! haha


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns everything but my plot! :)**

**A/N:** First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope your celebrations were awesome and I hope that this year is wonderful for every single one of you! I got champagne dumped over my head, which I wasn't happy about AT ALL but oh well, it was in Columbus at OSU, I can't complain!

Secondly, I'm SOOO sorry it took me so long to update. I had a lot of parties to attend since apparently this time of the year in both 1987 and 1988 was a popular time to have a child since most of my friends had a birthday in the past few days... and a few of them turned 21 so I had to go! :) haha

Anyway, I noticed that I didn't get as many reviews for the last chapter as I did for the one before that... I'm sad. I also have noticed that there are a total of 154 Favs and 233 people have this story on their Alerts list... I'd really appreciate feedback from more of you. I mean, I didn't get half of the reviews for last chapter as I do the favs for the entire story! I'm not mad or anything, I just don't get it.

Oh well, beggars can't be choosers can they? A HUGE shout out to "truelover", "Music 1s my s0ul", "Missy Skywalker", and "Edward's a sexy beast" for the wonderful reviews!

Oh, yeah, GO UC BEARCATS!! :-D

* * *

Bella's POV

2006. Forks, WA.

I moved in with the Cullen's over the course of two days, as I really didn't have much of a choice. Alice and Esme had tracked down my home and boxed up all of my belongings with care and transported them to what is now my room in the Victorian style mansion. I had been slightly angry in the beginning that they had taken such liberties but once I realized that nothing was damaged, including my cars and my precious "J" blanket, I was fine.

I sat up, as I was laying down on the white leather chaise lounge that Esme had placed in my room, and scanned my room for the blanket, deciding that I should return it to my brother. I smiled as I found it draped across the bench that sat by the window.

My room was quite modern, for which I was glad, with an entire wall of built in bookcases (now full with my books) and an attached bathroom and wonderfully large walk in closet. I never was one for fashion, but I knew that I had to keep up with the trends and I've caught on that Alice is exceptionally happy that I simply allow her to dress me daily. My smile grew larger as my eyes travelled over my belongings, I had only been living here for three weeks and I had already acquired an entire new wardrobe along with a family.

I stood, picked up the now ancient but still just as velvety soft blanket and went off in search of my brother.

I found him downstairs playing a video game with Emmett. I laughed as Emmett yelled out in anger that my brother was beating him, at least, I guessed Jasper was beating Emmett. I had no idea what game it was or what the score was; all I knew was it involved lots of shooting and racing cars.

"Jazz?" I caught his attention.

"Yes?" He looked up at me questioningly, "What is it?" He eyed the blanket in my arms and his eyes widened, "Is that--? You still have it?"

He stood and walked over to me, I nodded.

"I can't believe you still have it." Jasper whispered as he reached out a hand to touch it.

"I kept it all of these years. I couldn't let it go, especially once I thought I'd never see you again." I handed it to him, "It's time I return it, as per our deal."

He smiled, "I remember that deal, Bells. I have my half of it still."

"You do? You still have my ribbon?" A wave of disbelief and happiness hit me.

I noticed that Emmett had left the room, but Alice had suddenly appeared holding my blue ribbon that I had given Jasper back in 1861, "I had always wondered why Jasper had a ribbon he carried around and treated like it was gold!" She smiled and handed it to Jasper, who was closest, before turning around and heading back up the stairs.

He wordlessly handed me my long ribbon and I couldn't help it, as I clutched it to my chest, to let out a small, dry, sob.

My brother pulled me into his arms and we sat on a couch as I clutched at him, shaking with sobs, "Shh Bella," he told me, "It's okay. Why are you crying? You aren't sad."

I said nothing as I buried my face in his shirt, so unbelievably happy that I had my brother back and he remembered our deal after so many decades. "I'm happy," was all I said.

I felt him nod, "I'm happy too."

* * *

About a week after my crying incident with my brother, I again found myself laying on my white leather chaise lounge in my room with a book. It was a Friday and we had already arrived home from our day at school where I was still the center of attention. I was bored out of my mind.

I put my book, _Sense and Sensibility_, down and stood, making my way out of my room, wondering what I could do to occupy myself. I walked down the stairs when it hit me that Edward had a piano down here and I knew how to play. I smiled as I set my eyes on the beautiful grand piano that sit before me. I vaguely heard Alice squeal and rolled my eyes.

I pulled the bench back and sat, bringing my hands up to rest upon the ivory keys while I thought of what to play. I set my thumb on middle C and pressed down lightly as I thought.

Suddenly I started to play Robert Schumann's _Traumerei (Reverie)_, a slow, beautiful composition before slipping into Shumann's _Abegg Vairations Op. 1_. My eyes were closed as I allowed myself to slip into the wonderful sounds of Debussy's _Arabesque no. 1_.

I opened my eyes to see Edward staring at me, his jaw slack as I continued to play. I stared into his eyes as I finished and smiled. "Hello, Edward. I hope you don't mind me playing your piano."

I took my hands from the keys as he walked over to me, his crooked smile forming on his face, "I had no idea you played," he said honestly, "I don't mind at all."

He sat down on the bench with me, I moved over a bit to allow him room, and leaned forward. "As I said, I had no idea you played."

I looked down, "I learned a very long time ago and kept up with it through the years." I looked back up at him and smiled again, I could get lost in his eyes.

I shook my head quickly, I was out of my mind. I could have laughed at myself and probably would have if Edward didn't raise his hands to the ivory keys as he began to play what I quickly recognized as _Isle of Joy _by Debussy. I voiced that I recognized the piece.

"I see you're a Debussy fan," he remarked.

I nodded, "_Claire de Lune_ is my favorite he wrote."

He looked at me, "Mine too. Do you write music?" He finished playing, but kept his hands on the keys.

I shook my head, "No, I don't have the patience. I will, from time to time play something where I make it up as I go but I never have actually written anything. Do you?"

He nodded, "Yes I do. Would you like to hear one?"

"I'd love to!" I smiled eagerly.

He began playing, "This," he said quietly, "is Esme's Favorite."

I listened, silent, as he played, it sounded beautiful. When I finished, I told him I thought so and he gave me a broad smile.

"Tell me Bella," he said as he took his hands away from the keys and turned to face me, "Do you listen to anything other than the classical genre?"

I nodded as I too turned to face him, eager to keep talking to this amazingly beautiful creature before me, "I listen to just about anything, however I am completely against bluegrass country."

He frowned, "I cannot stand to listen to that. I detest it. What are some of your favorite bands and singers?"

I smiled.

* * *

We talked the afternoon away, not noticing the passage of time nor did we take notice of anyone who slipped in and out of the room. Edward and I were immersed in our conversation; we spoke of our favorite bands, musical eras, books, books, and books, among many other things.

I looked toward the clock, wondering the time, and was amazed that neither of us noticed that we had been speaking for hours and it was getting dark outside. "Oh!" I said in surprise, "We've been talking this long and I didn't even notice?"

He smiled, "I was enjoying our conversation."

"Me too!" I returned his smile. An idea struck me, "Do you want to go hunting with me?"

I didn't think his smile could've gotten any wider, "I would love to, let's go!"

We stood in unison and made our way through the back yard and into the woods behind out home, leaping over the river that separated our yard from the woods.

We ran, dodging trees and rocks, laughing in glee. We were in our element. I laughed loudly and chanced a glance at the sheer beauty that was Edward and I was shocked that he was doing the same to me. I winked at him before sniffing the air around me for the scent of animals. Finding one that smelled delicious, I turned and ran in that direction, noting that it was a herd and Edward was following me having caught the scent too. I smiled at him, "We're going to have to share." I winked again and focused on hunting.

After taking down four deer I stood, licking my lips to get all of the blood, and looked at Edward, who was finishing with his fifth.

I knew my eyes had glazed over as I stared at him; the way he closed his eyes as he drank the blood, clutching at his prey. His muscles tight and firm under his blue button-down shirt as he crouched over the deer, his bronze hair in disarray as it fluttered in the breeze.

Breathtaking.

I shook my head, amazed at myself. I was actually attracted to someone. After so many years of turning down advances from other vampires and human men alike, I was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with me, but here I was marveling at the creation that was Edward. I shook myself out of it, I had only known him for a month now and I was already doing this? I was disgusted at myself, who was I to think that way about someone who had, along with the rest of his family, taken me in and allowed me to become family too (even though I was actually a biological sister to one of them already).

I noted distantly that Edward had finished and was walking towards me and I wondered if he had been watching me as I had him.

* * *

Edward's POV

As Bella and I ran towards the herd I thought back to our conversation. I too had no sense of the passing of time for the first time since 1918. I was enthralled with her. I couldn't hear her thoughts and that intrigued me and frustrated me to no end. Jasper and Emmet thought it was hysterical that she had to allow me into her thoughts and had yet to do so. I shook my head as I dodged trees, watching her lithe form run. She was, just like the rest of the vampire race, incredibly graceful and beautiful.

Jasper is going to kill me.

I knew she was watching me as we hunted, and I too was watching her. She was vicious and it was actually arousing to watch her leap and take down the bucks that were much larger than her five foot four inch frame. I shook that thought away. What was I _thinking?_ She's Jasper's little sister and here I was thinking such vile thoughts about her. If she knew what I was thinking she would be disgusted with me, I was disgusted with myself.

But I couldn't deny that I was attracted to her. I almost laughed, after turning down countless advances from countless other women, I was attracted to someone and it had little do to with her looks. Her personality was golden, she was smart, and she played music. Teenagers today are lucky if they can pull off one of those characteristics, let alone all of them.

I stood as I finished my fifth deer, using my thumb to wipe away any remaining blood before I licked it off, and walked towards the brunette beauty that stood starting at me. I noted that her eyes were glazed over as she watched me walk towards her and nearly laughed at her slack jaw and slightly open mouth. I suddenly felt an urge to run my fingers through her hair but I quickly forced it away, where were these thoughts and urges coming from?

Jasper is going to _kill _me.

"Bella? Are you okay?" I was slightly worried about the look on her face and wondered what she was thinking about, and I felt the frustration set back in at my inability to hear her thoughts.

She shook her head and looked ashamed, "Yes, sorry, I was just thinking." She gave a laugh that sounded like bells.

"What were you thinking?" I asked as we began to dispose of the bodies of our meal.

She shook her head, "You don't want to know."

I did want to know, but I didn't push it.

I held out my hand to her, "I want to show you something." I said suddenly.

She looked at me and I realized that this was a very, very good idea on my part as she smiled and took my hand murmuring, "Alright."

When she took my hand an electric shock went through me and I wondered if she felt it too.

I was glad Jasper wasn't out with us because I know that if he was he would've felt the wave of emotions that rushed over me as she touched my hand. He would've felt my attraction to his younger sister and I'm sure that he would've felt my immense confusion too.

I was confused as to why I was beginning to like her more than as a friend and it certainly wasn't brotherly, when I was never attracted to another female that way in my life. I acknowledged that the others were usually quite beautiful, such as in Tanya's case, but I was never interested. Why was I now?

I was going to show her the meadow and as I looked in her eyes when we set off, I knew...

Jasper is _going _to _kill me._

_

* * *

_

Bella's POV

I took Edward's outstretched hand in confusion. I wasn't too confused with him taking me somewhere to show me something, but I was confused wondering why he was showing me. Why would I be special? I shrugged it off as we began to run west.

I noticed when I took Edward's hand that an electric shock had run through my body. Did he feel that too? I was afraid to ask him just in case he would think I was weird.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

He smiled crookedly at me, "You'll see. It's a surprise. I've never taken anyone here to see it, it's always been my place to sit and think. I want to show it to you."

I was flattered. I giggled as a wave of happiness rushed over me, even through the confusion.

I was quiet until Edward slowed to a walk right in the center of a clearing. I looked around and took in the flowers that surrounded us. It was completely normal for a meadow, but at the same time breathtakingly beautiful. I couldn't quite explain it or put my finger on it, but something about it was wonderful.

I looked at Edward who was looking at me expectantly, "This meadow is beautiful, Edward." I walked away from him and sat down on the grass. "It's wonderfully peaceful."

He nodded and sat next to me, "I come here to think and be away from the thoughts that constantly run through my head that belong to others. Here, it's silent and I can pretend I'm normal for a little while."

I nodded in understanding, "It must be terrible to have the thoughts of other people running through your head twenty four hours a day."

He shook his head, "It's not terrible, it was at first, but now I think I'd be lost without them. I'm so used to hearing them now."

"I feel insignificant next to you and Alice," I admitted suddenly. Where had that come from?

He appeared to be thinking along the same lines as me when he replied, "Why would you feel insignificant?"

I sighed and lay back on the grass, staring at the sky, "I can only block mental things and shield others from the same things, but you can hear thoughts and Alice can see the outcomes of decisions. I have nothing on you two." I deliberately kept my eyes on the clouded sky.

Edward was silent for a moment, "You don't see yourself very clearly, do you?"

"I see myself perfectly clearly, thank you."

I saw him shake his head in my peripheral, "No, I don't think you do. You are very talented, your gift is very important and helpful, Rosalie is jealous of you too. Not by much, as she's as vain as they come, but she's jealous you have a gift and she doesn't."

"She's very beautiful." I tried.

"Yes, she is," Edward agreed and I was surprised at how that seemed to sting me, "and she knows it, but she doesn't have much more than that."

I was silent as he then lay down next to me in the grass. As we lay there, I thought about what he said and I also tried to sort out my thoughts as to why in the world I could possibly be feeling any bit of attraction towards someone since I never had before. I knew I had to brush off these feelings as I was sure they were only coming up because I had been alone for so long and I suddenly found myself surrounded by love and a family.

I suddenly couldn't help it as I suddenly blurted to Edward, "Are you attracted to Rosalie?"

I immediately wanted to take it back and was incredibly glad that I couldn't blush anymore. I was mortified that I asked such a personal question and tried to rectify it, "I shouldn't have asked you that! Oh, Edward, I'm sorry--"

He laughed suddenly, "No, it's fine. Honestly. But no, I am not attracted to Rosalie. Carlisle changed her in the beginning in hopes that she could be a match for me, but we would never have worked and I never even tried, not once."

I wondered briefly why he sounded like he was trying to convince me of something but shrugged it off and said, "Oh. I didn't know that. She has Emmett though now, right?"

He nodded, "Yes, and they are very happy with one another."

We were silent for the next few hours as we stared at the sky. It was dark by now, but our eyesight could still see perfectly.

"I suppose we should get back," Edward said suddenly.

I agreed, "Yes, I suppose we should. The others might worry that you kidnapped me and took me off somewhere to have your way with me." I laughed but was struck with the thought that I might not mind that behavior coming from Edward. I groaned internally, where do those thoughts keep coming from?!

He looked struck for a moment before he too began laughing with me. He stood quickly and held out his hand to me, "Ready, Bella?"

I took his hand, nodding, not trusting myself to speak after that thought.

I vaguely heard him mutter something about someone killing him as we ran off through the forest. Our fingers were still entwined when we could see the house through the trees. I let go of his hand.

I was going to have to be careful when I was around Jasper. This could be disastrous. I tried imagining talking to my brother about another man and my attraction to said other man and shuddered.

I fleetingly wondered what Edward thought of me.

Oh, _what is my problem?!_

We walked inside and after I gave him a small, shy smile, I walked up the stairs and into my room. When I closed the door, I put my back to it and slid down to the floor. I truly had a wonderful day! I felt a large smile pull it's way onto my face and a little bubble of happiness tickled my stomach.

Yes, I thought, I'm definitely going to have to hide this from Jasper. He'll be suspicious I'm so happy and giddy after spending the day with only Edward.

I decided to take a shower after spending so many hours outside hunting and laying in the grass of the meadow with Edward. I sighed as I thought of the meadow, it was so pretty and peaceful.

I grabbed a towel and turned on the water as I my thoughts drifted from the events of today to Edward, then random mundane things about Alice and her plans for the weekend, hoping that I wouldn't have to go shopping with her and Rosalie since those two could go for days, to Edward, my shower, what I would wear after my shower, and then Edward again.

Wow, I had it bad.

I am going to have to hide this from Jasper. And Edward. I rinsed the strawberry-scented shampoo from my hair as I thought about this. Edward wouldn't be attracted to me in return, I knew this. He turned down Rosalie for goodness sakes! Why would he decide to like me more than as a sister when he wanted nothing to do with even courting Rosalie years ago when she was turned. I shuddered as I ran a strawberry-scented conditioner through my hair and then rinsed it out.

I decided that I wanted to go for a drive. A very fast drive. I wonder if Edward would like to go with me.

I'm terrible.

I finished my shower and dried my hair quickly. Pulling my hair into a ponytail and lightly dusting a blush over my cheeks in an attempt to at least _look_ alive despite my pale skin, I went to get dressed. I chose something simple: a dark-washed pair of jeans and a light grey sweater that was a V-neck with short sleeves over a plain white tank so I didn't reveal too much if anyone were to see me. I grabbed my keys to my silver BMW M6 and walked out of my room to go downstairs.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs I saw Alice jumping on the balls of her feet with a large grin on her face.

"Hello Alice!" I was becoming incredibly fond of this pixie-like girl. I recall her telling me a few weeks ago that we were going to be "great friends" as she put it.

"I want to go with you!" she squealed.

I shrugged, I had no problem with this and her grin grew larger when she saw my choice. She grabbed my hand and together we walked to the garage, started my car, and sped away from the house.

Alice kept her hold on my hand, "Can we go shopping Bella? Please?! I just want to check out what's at the mall!"

I looked at her, "Which mall, Alice?"

She gave me her puppy-dog-eyes and said, "We can go to Seattle!"

I laughed suddenly at her antics, "I don't suppose that's a bad idea. But the malls won't open for a few hours, so we'll have to drive around for awhile and talk."

"Okay!" Alice was quick to agree, and that's just what we did; we talked as I drove around. She asked me all sorts of questions such as my favorite designers, did I prefer light blue or dark blue, et cetera.

As it neared time for a mall in Seattle to open, Alice squealed, "I'm excited that it's just us girls doing this today! I promise I'll go easy on you!"

I laughed, Alice's version of going easy on me during shopping was not dragging me into _every_ store, and _allowing _me to have a choice in what handbag she forced upon me.

I parked my car in a highly shaded portion of the parking garage and the two of us avoided walking into any direct sunlight as we entered the mall. And Alice was off.

I groaned but followed her along through the hours of going into the stores she saw something in as she picked out various clothes, shoes, handbags and random pieces of jewelry for our entire family. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw her little body holding so many shopping bags but my laugh was cut short when I felt my cell phone vibrating in my pocket.

I grabbed it out in confusion (who in the world would be calling me right now?) and looked at the caller I.D. and felt a small flood of emotion come over me.

I smiled and flipped open my phone, "Hello Edward!"

* * *

A/N: Alright! There you have it! 4,451 words! What did you think? As I said before not many people reviewed compared to other chapters and I'm sort of worried. Please review! I love the feedback and believe me, it really helps me on when it comes to writing the story!

So, let me know what you think!! I really really appreciate it!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns everything you recognize! :-)**

**A/N:** Oh my God, last chapter was by far the one with the MOST reviews yet! Every single one of you had me smiling, and some even made me laugh. You guys are the BEST! Last chapter had 1,552 hits total at the time I'm writing this, and a total of 82 reviews (the most from any chapter yet!) and the story has a total of 9,665 hits with 301 reviews. So thank you thank you thank you and keep it up!!! Yeah, sure, I'm confused as to how I can get so many hits yet barely a fraction of those in reviews but I'll take what I can get and be incredibly grateful for it! So thank you everyone!

Special thanks to "Missy Skywalker," "truelover," "theObSeSeDWoodWorm," "Calm Serene," and "Music 1s my s0ul" for their wonderful and ever-loyal reviews. This chapter is dedicated to them!

Someone mentioned that I never mentioned anything about what Bella had to say to Alice's question about when she wanted to date Edward. I'm sorry! I wrote it in in the beginning and then edited it out thinking I'd add it later in the chapter but I forgot to! :-\ I'll be sure to mention it this time though... HAHA Sorry, loves!

* * *

Bella's POV

2006. Seattle, WA

"Bella, are you okay?" I heard Edward ask me from the other end of the line.

"Yes, why? Is something wrong?" I became worried, did he know something Alice and I didn't?

"Where are you? Are you with Alice? Jasper and I are going crazy wondering where you two are."

I almost laughed, but settled for a smile. They were worried about us? Wait, why would Edward be worried about me?

"I'm at a mall in Seattle with her," I noticed Alice had stopped next to me and I assumed she was listening to the conversation between Edward and I, "Didn't Jasper try her cell phone?"

"Oh!" Alice exclaimed suddenly, "Oh I forgot it there at home!"

I could almost see Edward nodding in agreement, "Yes, we found her cell here at home. We nearly panicked, she never leaves without it. You two must've been in some hurry."

I groaned, "Not until she decided she wanted to go with me when I wanted to head out for a drive... Which I never got to really take."

"Jasper wants to talk to you, Bella, here." I could hear as the phone was shifted from his hand to my brother's.

Jasper's voice filled my ear, "Bella? Alice is with you?"

I laughed, "Yes, Jazz. She's right next to me, don't worry."

"Do you have any idea what went through my head when none of us could find you two?" I winced.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you..." I trailed off, "But we're at a mall in Seattle, shopping."

My brother suddenly laughed, "Only Alice would run out in a hurry so she could shop. But please, Bells, let someone know where you're going when you leave. I just got you back, I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Jasper, what could possibly hurt me? Oh," I noticed Alice was motioning for the phone, "my sister-in-law wants to speak to you." I handed Alice the phone and she started reassuring him that the two of us were fine and neither he nor Edward needed to worry anymore.

I was struck by that comment but brushed it off, Edward was probably worried because I was Jasper's little sister. I shook my head, it's nice to pretend he's worried about me for me.

"I love you too, Jazzy," I heard Alice say. I suppose I had zoned out of their entire conversation, "Yes, I'll take care of her, send Edward her love."

I stopped. _"What?! _Send him _my love?"_ I turned on Alice as she hung up the phone.

She raised her eyebrow at me, "You never did answer my question as to when you wanted to go out on a date with my brother." She smiled mischievously.

If a vampire could choke on something like their own venom, I would've right then and there, but instead I laughed, "Didn't me jumping out of the tree and ignoring you tell you my answer? Alice, you're out of your mind."

She shook her head, "No, I'm quite sane actually, thank you for your concern though. But my sanity isn't the matter at hand." She started to skip.

"Alice," I laughed, "Why would he and I go out on a date? What sort of date could we even go on?" I paused, "Assuming he does even like me enough in _that way_ to even consider it?"

She tapped her temple and giggled a cute girlish bell-sounding sort of giggle, "Trust me," she said, "It's all good."

"_What's_ all good? Alice, Edward doesn't like me like that."

"You're blind!" she sang suddenly. "I thought this would be easy. First he doesn't believe me and now you! You two are impossible." She huffed.

I stopped and stared at her. She had set her many bags down on the ground around her and I was reminded of a small very colorful mountain made of candy before my mind was brought back to the matter at hand. "You went to him telling him that I have feelings for him?!"

"Oh, so you admit it, finally! You know, Bella, the first step is admitting."

I waved her off, "Answer me, Alice. You went to him and told him I did?"

She shook her head, "I didn't tell him you did, I told him you would. I even showed him the visions!"

I grabbed her arm, my other arm taking hold of all of her bags she had set down and pulled her along the hallway of the mall towards the parking garage where my car was parked. I opened the trunk, stuffed the bags in there and the backseat (since there wasn't enough room in the trunk alone), and started the car. Alice slid in the passenger seat.

I began to drive and an odd mix of emotions came over me. She had visions of Edward and I? Together? I wanted to hope, but I didn't want to hope at the same time.

"You've been having visions?" I asked quietly.

She nodded, taking my hand. "Of the two of you, together. Look, Bella, I know it's a little--" she seemed to reach for the word she was looking for, "fast, I suppose, but you two are made for each other. Even I can see he's really starting to like you."

I shook my head, "Alice, as much as part of me wants to believe it, I don't." I sighed, "Don't you go showing him this conversation, by the way. But look, I don't know how I feel about him. I know how he makes me feel when I'm around him. My emotions go sort of haywire." I stopped for a second and gasped.

"Alice! Oh, God, Jasper can feel my emotions can't he? Oh my word..." I knew my southern accent was coming back quickly as I began losing some of my composure.

Alice's little laugh tinkled around me, "He mentioned something odd about you and Edward, but I'm sure he hasn't caught on yet. Or at least, until you and I seemed to disappear from the two of them. I think Edward went a bit berserk."

I moaned, "He's caught on to something then, if that's true."

Alice shook her head, "No, not yet. But, look, between you and me, sister to sister, you should figure out where you stand with your emotions about Edward." She winked, "Otherwise, you're going to have to hide from Jasper, and I'm telling you, that will be hard. Especially once you realize you and Edward are meant to be!"

I looked at her, exasperated, "Give it a rest Alice. It's not like that."

She shrugged, "Suit yourself." She was quiet for a moment before sitting up suddenly, "Oh! Stop there! I want that dress!"

* * *

Edward's POV.

2006, Forks, WA.

Jasper handed my phone back to me with an odd look on his face, I listened to his thoughts.

_Send Edward Bella's love? What?_ He looked at me suddenly, "Is there something going on I should know about, Edward?"

I put up my hands, "What do you mean? Did Alice tell you to say that?" I referred to his thoughts.

He nodded. _Apparently my wife has neglected to tell me something._

I thought back to when Alice had cornered me in my room a few days previous telling me that Bella had a thing for me and that she knew I had a thing for Jasper's little sister. I had immediately waved her off telling her that she was being absurd but she showed me various visions she had had.

Needless to say, I was confused.

Jasper cut into my thoughts, "Well? Should I know something?" He didn't seem mad about anything, just curious.

I sighed, "Your wife has been having some visions." I said simply, going to sit down in my room. He followed me.

He raised a blonde eyebrow at me, "Care to elaborate? I'm the empath, not the mind reader."

I inwardly cringed, I had thought about that. Jasper was sure to have felt the panic that rose within me when we couldn't find Alice or Bella. I winced, "I'm sure you can figure it out based on that comment from Alice."

Jasper became serious, "Is there something going on between you and my little sister?"

Jasper had never seemed so intimidating to me before. Ever. I wasn't afraid, however, I was cautious. He seemed to read my emotions and process them in his thoughts.

"Do you have any," he seemed lost for words for a moment, he had never really had to do this for her before, "intentions towards Bella?"

I shrugged, "I'm not even sure yet, Jasper." I said honestly, "Alice just jumped in with these visions of Bella and I and it threw me for a loop. Right now, I'm not sure. I'm confused."

He nodded, "I can feel that, but I can also feel something else..."

He seemed frustrated, he ran a hand through his hair. I thought about how I felt when she was around me, how it felt to me when she looked at me, smiled, laughed. I was captivated by her, enamored by her character.

"I'm captivated by her." I admitted suddenly.

He looked up at me curiously, evaluating me. Suddenly he smiled, "Does she know this yet?"

I shook my head, "No. I'm sure my feelings are one-sided however."

He suddenly laughed, surprising me, "I can assure you that her feelings mirror yours for the most part. But she is much more confused."

My hopes soared suddenly and Jasper, feeling my emotions, cracked a small smile before turning serious again, "Edward, don't make her do anything she doesn't want to. She'll run."

I sobered up quickly, "I would never do that, you know it."

Jasper sat back, "Look, I know you're a good man, and sure, it makes me slightly angry that someone looks at her the way you do, but I know you're good for her. But, she's obviously thrown off a lot of come-on's. You saw how she handled Mike Newton."

I threw my head back and laughed, remembering to the other day in school where that vile Newton had made a grab for her. She, being a girl from the Civil war era was incredibly offended and told him off for it. "The best part was when she said she wasn't some hussy like that Lauren Mallory and reminded him that you, Emmett and I would gladly take him down a few notches if he tried it again."

Jasper nodded, "I was furious with him."

"As was I," I reminded him, "But you knew that. Emmett thought it was hysterical."

We sat in silence for a few moments after we had calmed. Jasper pulled me from my thoughts when he stood and looked at me, "Don't mess with her," He said, "I know you won't, you're a good man, Edward, but I just feel that as her older brother, I have to."

I nodded solemnly, "So, no scattering my ashes around the United States?" I gave him a smirk.

He shook his head, "No, I like you as a brother." With that he left my room.

I lay back on my couch in thought. I smiled as I thought about what he said when he described her feelings when she was around me. I know that he wouldn't lie to me about something like that and I was glad for that. I sat back up, it was time for me to start making her fall for me like I was for her, I would go at her pace, slowly letting her know that I was falling for her. It was time for me to make my plans, starting with my piano.

I stood and walked downstairs to my piano, where I began to play a melody that had been forming in my head since I met the pale beauty that was quickly becoming my life.

I smiled as I heard Emmett whisper to Jasper, "Dude, he's got it bad for your sister" before I went into my world of music, playing the melody.

* * *

Bella's POV.

2006. Forks, WA.

It had been just over a month since Alice and I had gone shopping and she tried to get me to admit my feelings about Edward. I had been trying to hide my emotions from my brother but I knew it wasn't working, especially when he gave me a knowing look then glanced at Edward then back to me before he went back to whatever he was doing. I had spent nearly all of my free time with Edward and in that small amount of time I had known him, become enamored with him. I've never felt this way about any other man in my existence and I had to admit that I thought I was falling for him.

I had tried to not be too forward with him, especially when I learned from Emmett that Edward hadn't ever had a significant other that anyone had known of either. I didn't want to scare him away, nor did I want to make him think ill of me, but I couldn't help but notice the look of disappointment that crossed his face whenever I would pull my face back from his when I had come close to kissing him. That would be too forward, I thought.

I sighed as I put my book I was reading away on the shelf in my room. My mind wandered to Edward as I looked out of the window that overlooked the backyard. I smiled brightly when I saw that he, my brother, and Emmett were playing football with Rosalie, Carlisle, and Alice playing with them. My Edward had a large smile on his face-- I stopped myself quickly, _my _Edward? Certainly not. I might have considered myself his already, which was an incredibly large step for me, but he hadn't given himself to me yet as far as I knew.

_But,_ I thought to myself, _even I have noticed the little looks, touches, and smile that he saves only for me._

I felt a small smile find its way across my face as I watched my family play. Esme was tending to her garden between her laughs at her family. There was a large crash and my eyes settled on Edward who had been tackled by Emmett for his quest to get the football and laughed loudly.

Edward perked up and looked through my window at me and my breath nearly caught. He smiled that crooked smile that made me melt, shoved Emmett off of him and motioned for me to come out and join the family.

Emmett, noticing who Edward was gesturing too let his loud, booming voice carry up to me (even though he could have whispered and I would've heard him), "HEY BELLA! COME DOWN AND PLAY WITH US!"

I laughed and, after changing my shirt in a flash, ran down to join them only to be immediately tackled by Alice.

"Alice!" I heard Rosalie screech, "We're not playing yet! Why did you tackle her already?!"

"I missed her." Alice said simply before jumping up and running towards everyone else.

"Do you know how to play football?" Jasper asked me, throwing his arm over my shoulder.

I raised an eyebrow and looked up at him, "Yes?"

He, in turn, raised an eyebrow at me too and looked down at me, "Really?" His tone was disbelieving.

We stood staring at each other, fighting not to laugh when suddenly Alice screamed in laughter, followed by Emmett and Edward. The expression on my face turned to confusion, nearly identical to Jasper's, as we turned in unison to stare at them and their laughter increased.

I looked at my brother in confusion, "What is wrong with them?"

Jasper shrugged, "I have no idea."

"Do you have any idea how similar you two are?" Esme's sweet voice floated over to us.

Emmett's laughter subsided just a bit and he walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder, "You and Jazz were damn near identical with your expressions! It was hysterical!" He guffawed again and Rosalie threw a rock at his head, "Hey, babe! What was that for?!"

Now it was mine and Jasper's turns to laugh before Carlisle interrupted us, "Okay, okay children. Let's play some more football!"

And so, we did.

I was laughing as I ran with the ball towards the end zone, I was _so_ about to score a touchdown for my team and Emmett and Alice let me know it with their loud yells of, "GO BELLA, GO!" and "FASTER! GO!" I sensed someone running right behind me, right on my heels and I was suddenly tackled, literally right next to the end zone.

"Fourth and goal," a musical voice chuckled in my ear. I smiled as I shifted my body around to look at Edward, who had gotten off of me and was now sitting on the ground next to me.

"Well, daggone!" I laughed, "I was sure I was going to get a touchdown that time too..." I snapped my fingers for good measure and Edward threw his head back and laughed.

"You look adorable with dirt smudged on your cheek," he said quietly. My breath hitched and I noticed distantly when Alice ushered everyone inside, calling it a game, telling them to shower or something.

I shook my head, "I have dirt on my cheek?" I started to rub both of my cheeks frantically.

Edward chuckled and took my hands from my face and stared at me, but before I could get lost in his topaz eyes, he stood up, taking me with him.

"Come on, let's go to the meadow." He turned, still holding one of my hands, and started for the tree line. I followed eagerly.

* * *

Edward and I lay side by side in the grass of the meadow. He was humming something that I had never heard before and I was curious as to what it was.

"Did you write that, too?" I asked.

He nodded and turned towards me, bringing one arm up to hold his head in place as he looked at me.

"Does it have a name?" I asked as I mirrored his position in the grass.

He nodded again, his crooked smile becoming more pronounced. My lips parted as I looked at him waiting for an answer and forgetting what I asked at the same time.

Finally, he opened his mouth. "It's called _Bella's Lullaby. _I wrote it for you."

I started, "You-- you wrote that for _me?_" Edward wrote me a song? He _wrote_ a song for _me?_

He nodded, this time looking slightly unsure of himself, "Do you like it?" He asked.

I nodded frantically, "I love it. It's beautiful. I can't wait to hear it played." I admitted, "But why would you write me a song? Am I special? Do you write songs for all of your family?"

He shook his head and reached over and brushed some hair from my face, "No, _Esme's Favorite_ wasn't even actually written for Esme, it was simply named from her as her favorite. You are the only one I have actually written for. And, yes, you are wonderfully special Isabella."

If I were human, I would've been blushing my brains out, I knew it. But I was slightly shocked, "What?"

He leaned closer, we were only inches away and when he spoke, his fresh, cool breath ran over my face and I breathed it in, "I said, you are wonderfully special. I can't explain how you make me feel, Bella. It's confusing, wonderful, stressful, beautiful, and splendidly enthralling all in one, plus many more emotions. I don't know how to explain it." He trailed off.

My expression softened, I wanted to tell him then and there, right then and there, that I had fallen for him, but I stopped myself. I wasn't exactly sure of myself, nor was I sure of his feelings for me, even though he had literally just explained almost word-for-word exactly how I felt about him. The only thing missing was 'love.'

I opened my mouth and it all suddenly rushed from my mouth, "I feel the same way, Edward. I can't explain it." I looked away from him and stared at a tree. I knew I would never get this out if I stared into his eyes, "It's exquisite, how you make me feel. The things you make me think and feel and do when you're around me is so off for me. I know Jasper has caught on, he's my brother and I can't keep something like that from him, even if he wasn't an empath. I-- I think I've--" I cut myself off.

"Yes?" he leaned even closer. If he were any other man I would've been so incredibly uncomfortable with his close proximity, but I was wonderfully comfortable with him, his hand on my cheek, mine laying softly on his bicep. I looked into his eyes and the intensity and smoldering heat that those golden orbs held let me know that right then I could tell him. Right then I felt sure that he reciprocated my feelings and emotions.

"I've fallen for you, Edward. You're the only man who has ever made me feel this way," I smiled softly, "I love you."

I closed the gap between our lips.

His hand was suddenly in my hair, massaging my skull, as his other hand pulled me closer to him. I threw my arms around him, letting my own hand to venture into his bronze hair and allowing him to lean over me as I lay back into the soft ground as we kissed. It started slow and progressed into a sweet dance of our tongues and moans.

He suddenly pulled back, the smile on his face was intoxicating, "I love you too."

And he kissed me again. I had never, ever, been so happy in my entire existence. I had finally found my soul mate, admitted my love for him, and found out that he loved me too.

We did nothing more than kiss and touch, but I was completely fine with that. I had only just admitted to him that I loved him, neither of us were ready for anything else.

I've never been so happy and I let him know it with a moan as he kissed along my jawline saying, "I love you, Bella," in between kisses.

"And I, you." I whispered back.

* * *

When we arrived back at the house, hand in hand, we were greeted by Alice and Esme who hugged us both. Alice looked smug as she looked from me to Edward before opening her mouth to say what I suspected to be "I told you so" but she was interrupted by Emmett slapping Edward on the back with a loud boom.

"I never thought you had it in you, Eddie-boy," he laughed.

He didn't laugh too long because Edward was suddenly tackling him to the ground in a playful fight, "_Don't_ call me _Eddie_ OR _Eddie-boy_ Emmett!"

Esme, Alice, and I left the two of them to it. Jasper was sitting casually in the living room with a history book. He looked up at me, "About time," was all he said before winking at me and returning to his book.

I smiled, glad that there was no awkwardness between the two of us. I sat down next to him, laying my head on his shoulder, and read with him.

My big brother was fine with me loving someone. That was priceless to me.

* * *

Nearly half a year had passed since Edward and I professed our love to one another and we were getting along splendidly. As I had enrolled as a Junior in Forks High School towards the end of the school year, I was preparing to enter my Senior year along with Alice and Edward. Our other siblings had graduated and things were peaceful.

Emmett and Rosalie were planning another honeymoon in Africa and were set to depart in a few weeks. Alice and Jasper too were planning on going on their own small trip until school started and were also set to depart around the same time as Emmet and Rosalie. Of course, Carlisle and Esme were planning on staying in Olympia for the time being as he had his job at the hospital.

Right now, however, we were playing a game of baseball as there was one heck of a storm brewing over our heads. It had yet to rain, as Alice had predicted, but the thunder was loud and rumbling, which was fantastic as we mad a rather large amount of noise as we played.

Currently it was Edward who was up to bat, Alice pitching, Rosalie and Emmett were in the outfield, I was on deck, and Jasper was standing close to third base, Carlisle stood next to me, and Esme was behind home plate as catcher and umpire.

Alice whipped her arm around and threw the ball toward Edward, who in turn swung his bat and with a thundering CRACK hit the ball. Rosalie tore off after it to the cheers of Emmett shouting at her to get it. I cheered my Edward on as he ran top speed through the bases and into home.

"YES!" I cheered as I ran to him and kissed him, "Wonderful job, honey."

He smiled at me and was about to say something when suddenly Alice shrieked. We looked to her and watched as she looked towards the tree line. Edward tensed and growled suddenly.

"Edward, what is it?" Carlisle asked. Jasper had gone to Alice and had an arm around her shoulders and on occasion he would look back towards me to ensure I was wrapped in Edward's arms.

Alice answered for him, "We have company."

We all waited, watching the tree line. "Where's Rose?" I asked suddenly.

It seemed that Emmett was wondering the same thing as he took a step forward but Edward's voice stopped him, "She's fine, Emmett. She's on her way back. There are three visitors and they're walking with her. It seems that they simply heard our game and got curious." That seemed to relax Emmett slightly and I felt some of the tension leave my shoulders, Edward's hold on me loosened slightly and I took a step away from him, still holding his hand.

Rosalie's gorgeous blond head was suddenly visible as she strode from the forest. She was being followed by three other vampires.

I didn't recognize the wildly red haired female, nor did I know the dark colored male that seemed to be the leader of the three.

But I did recognize the tall, lean blond one. Our eyes locked and a smirk suddenly found it's way onto his face.

Fear gripped my heart. I knew this one. He had pursued me in the past and I had turned him down, much to his dislike and it had enraged him. It took nearly everything I had to run from him all those years ago.

"James." I gasped. Oh, God, no. This is not good at all.

* * *

**A/N: **Well! There you have it! 4,864 words! God, I write A LOT don't I? I want reviews!! I got a large amount for the last chapter and I'm looking for more feedback! Sorry for the cliffy, but hey, how else am I going to get you guys wanting more? Hehe! :-P

Let me know what you think! I really really appreciate it when you review so please please do! It helps me when I'm writing and for a perfect example of how it helps, read my A/N in the beginning about the person who mentioned I forgot to add something. It helps!!

So, please REVIEW!!! And thank you so much for being loyal and wonderful people!


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **Stephanie Meyer owns all! … The exception being the plot… haha

**A/N:** Oh my gosh, guys!! At the moment I'm writing this, 'Finding Family' has damn near 400 reviews!! FOUR HUNDRED! I had no idea that this story would be so popular and I'm not ashamed to say that I'm incredibly proud of it! Thank you so much and keep up the amazing reviews! They really help!

Special thanks to "Nathalia Potter" (for her funny review), "Calm Serene" (for her hilarious and oddly warming review), "truelover" (as usual for her awesomeness), "Abi94" (because I laughed out loud at her threat on my life), "Missy Skywalker" (for her insightful and as always wonderful review), and "Obsessed-over-Emmett" (for catching my Charlie the Unicorn reference hahaha). This chapter is dedicated to the lot of you! ;) Thank you, my loves, for being so wonderful.

Well, here's chapter 9. I hope you like it!!

* * *

Bella's POV

2006. Baseball Clearing, WA.

"_James," I gasped. Oh, God, no. This is not good at all._

His smirk turned sinister as he glared at me. I glared right back, however I wanted to know what he was thinking. I glanced at Edward fearfully, I hadn't told my family of James; I didn't think it necessary to inform them of all of the males that had tried to pursue me.

Edward's eyes were narrowed and his mouth drawn tight into a snarl, he growled suddenly at what I assumed were the thoughts he caught in James' mind.

The dark male stepped forward slowly and raised his hands in the air in the universal sign of "I mean no harm" and, looking at Carlisle, began to speak.

"I am Laurent, this is Victoria," he motioned to the wild haired female who merely stared, "and I'm assuming that you knows James." He motioned towards James.

"No," James spoke, his voice like silk, "I only know Isabella here. I do not know the others." He smirked again at me, "It's been a long time Isabella, has it not?"

I stood straight, "What do you want James?" I know it sounded rude, but I didn't care, not after our past.

Victoria stepped towards James and ran her hand lovingly down his arm, smirking at me. "He's mine now, woman." Her voice was higher than I had imagined it to be.

I felt my family's eyes on me and I didn't need my brother's power to feel their anxiety.

I narrowed my eyes and stepped forward, my hand still holding Edward's, "You can have him, he was never anything to me. I turned him away. It's not my fault that he wouldn't stop pursuing me for years until I was _forced_ to keep him away from me."

"Bella? So you do know him?" Jasper asked me.

I was about to answer him when Victoria answered for me, "Oh yes, yes she does know him. She knew him very well from what James here has told me." She giggled, "I'm told I'm a hundred times better than she is."

I gasped, "How dare you! I would never _ever_ have done anything like that with the likes of _him_, you witch!"

Things were spiraling down quickly, much too quickly. I held Edward back as he, evidently hearing the thoughts of these intruders, lunged forward. "Emmett!" I gasped, "Help me hold him!"

Emmett did as I asked and wrapped his arms around Edward's and held him in place. I turned back toward James, "You told her this? Obviously you didn't tell her how I turned you away _every single time_ you tried. But you didn't like that, did you James? You weren't used to being turned away, were you?" I turned my attention to my family, Laurent, and Victoria, "You see, the last time I saw James I had to take him out and tear him limb-from-limb to keep him away from me. He attacked me the last time I told him no, thinking that by overpowering me he would be able to force me into submission. He didn't anticipate that I knew a thing or two about fighting back."

James snarled at me and I growled back, "Looking for a fight, James?" I asked him.

"Bella no! He'll fight you right back!" Edward cried from behind me.

Not taking my eyes from James, I replied back to Edward, "I'm counting on it."

Jasper and Carlisle suddenly stepped on either side of me, Jasper taking my arm and Carlisle raising his hands in the air as he spoke, "This is getting out of hand, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Laurent nodded, "I agree," He said quietly. Then, taking one of James' arms and, motioning for Victoria to take the other, began to pull in the opposite direction. Victoria complied after sending a glare towards me to which I snarled.

I felt that not only was Jasper holding me, Alice was too.

I shook them off and turned towards Edward, who was now being held by Emmet and Rosalie a good thirty feet away from me. I heard a shriek that sounded suspiciously like Esme and suddenly found myself thrown to the ground.

I turned and, after throwing the person off of me, saw James ripping away at me in attempt to fight me. I growled and launched myself at him, taking him to the ground.

"You want a repeat of LAST TIME?!" I shouted at him, my vision clouded in red. His crimson colored eyes glared at me as he snapped his teeth at me. I snapped back at his neck, desperate to rip his stupid head from his shoulders and incapacitate him long enough to burn his body. I was out to kill.

He tossed me into a tree and I heard the shouts of anger that came from Edward and my brother who both, I now saw, had lunged at the two of us and had been trying to pry us apart. I wasn't having any of this, I launched myself right back at James with a roar of rage.

In the distance I saw that Rosalie and Alice were in a sort of dance-like battle with Victoria who looked as unscathed as they did. I saw Laurent and Esme pleading for us to stop while Emmett and Carlisle were coming behind both James and Victoria to keep them at bay.

I clawed at James as Jasper pulled me away and I was wonderfully glad to see that I certainly had done a number on him. His marble skin was torn in many places from my teeth and nails and his hair was in disarray. I'm sure I looked no better; we _had_ been rolling around fighting on the ground, after all.

"Let me go Jasper! Let me go!" I pulled away from my brother as I watched Edward punch James' face into the ground. I was mildly satisfied to see he was just as enraged as I was.

"No Bella!" Jasper didn't struggle with me much. I knew that this was because of his experience with newborns and I certainly didn't have the strength of one.

James aimed a punch at Edward and when I saw it connect with my love's face I went ballistic, "Let me GO!"

Emmett had jumped in and ripped away one of James's arms. When James shrieked in pain I noticed that Victoria had disappeared and the rest of my family had jumped in to help. Jasper had handed me off to the arms of Esme, Rosalie, and Alice as he went and gave James a punch to the face before ripping his other arm away. "That's for my sister you sorry excuse of a man!" I watched as they tore him apart and lit a fire to consume his remains.

There was a long shriek of agonizing pain that came from the forest that I recognized as Victoria as James was burned.

As soon as they were sure he was properly burning, Edward came running towards me and pulled me into his arms.

I collapsed with him on the ground as I clutched at him, my face buried in his chest as I breathed in his scent to calm myself. Oh, Lord, how I had fallen in such love with this man.

He pulled away for a moment to cradle my face and kiss every inch of it, "I was so worried for you," He whispered, "So, so worried, my love."

I merely nodded as I kissed him back. My nerves were shot.

I felt Edward stiffen and I stiffened in response, turning to see what he was staring at. I saw Laurent and Carlisle in conversation, Carlisle with his arm wrapped around Esme's shoulders, holding her tight to his side.

"I am deeply sorry for my companions," Laurent was saying, "You were in every right, of course, to have retaliated. James was out of line."

Emmett growled, "Out of line?! He freaking jumped Bella with her back turned!"

Carlisle held up a hand towards Emmett and Rosalie took the chance to pull him away, "Let's go, Em," she said quietly, "Let's go hunt or something. We'll find you some bears." I watched as she pulled him off towards the forest.

"Be careful, you two," Alice said quietly, knowing that they would be able to hear her.

She and my brother came towards Edward and I who were still sitting on the ground. Alice lunged at the two of us, but Jasper was faster and pulled me into his arms.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Bella," he said into my hair. I held tighter, still slightly shaken, my anger gone.

"Me too," I replied. He let me go, Edward took my hand again, and Alice threw her little arms around my waist. She was shaking with dry sobs and Jasper had to use his power to calm her.

Esme called for us now, telling us that it was certainly time to go home and we all agreed, so, picking up our baseball gear, we made our way back to the house. Carlisle mentioned along the way that Laurent, interested in our diet, was going to meet up in Denali with another coven like our own to give it a try. I hoped that it worked out for him.

When we got back to the house, Esme hugged us all and ran her hands over us to make sure we weren't injured in any way. "Go clean yourselves up," she said quietly. She was a mother through and through and I smiled at her and nodded.

Edward hadn't let me go since the embrace I had with my brother, and for that I was glad. We walked upstairs and into our room where we closed the door quietly and turned to face each other.

Edward and I had, within the last six months, combined our rooms into one and added a bed, though for now we had no purpose but to use the bed for cuddling and the like. We had an unspoken agreement that none of that would happen without marriage, but now wasn't the time to think about that.

As I stared into his smoldering golden eyes, I couldn't help but feel that our game of baseball earlier today was so far away. His hand came and caressed my cheek and my eyes closed of their own accord. I breathed a small sigh when he pulled me closer to him as we danced our way toward the bed. He gently lay me down and hovered over me just staring at me.

I reached up and pulled him down beside me and felt his free hand move down from my shoulder, to my waist, around my hip and down my thigh where he hooked his hand under my leg and hoisted it up and over his hip. He kissed me softly before touching our foreheads together. I was melting inside, my love for him burning.

"I love you so much, Bella," He whispered, his cool, sweet breath washing over my face.

"I love you too, Edward, so much." I ran my fingers around his ear, knowing that he liked that.

He tightened his grip around me, "When James attacked, you, I didn't know what to think—," he trailed off, shaking his head. As I watched his jaw tighten and his nostrils flare I knew he was keeping in the sobs that threatened to come from my own chest too. He sniffed, "I didn't know what to think when you retaliated and jumped back at him. I know you can take care of yourself, but it nearly killed me seeing whenever he would gain the upper hand and throw you like a doll. I couldn't take it."

I placed my hand on his cheek and then pulled him closer, my cheek now pressed to his bronze hair as I comforted him. "Edward," I whispered, "Oh, my Edward. I'm okay. I'm here. I'm fine. You helped. You and Jasper and Emmett, you helped. He's gone now." I whispered to him.

He nodded, and we were silent for some time, just staring at one another, touching, kissing, and giving the other reassuring squeezes from time to time.

"So," I said after awhile, "What about those showers?" I winked at him, stood, and danced into the large closet where I found that bikini that Alice had bought me (thinking to myself in wonder how something like this could pass as appropriate in the presence of a man), and some swim trunks for him. I walked back into the room to find Edward still sitting as I had left him before throwing the trunks at him. I winked again and sashayed to the bathroom where I left the door cracked slightly ('Oh I'm such a _tease,'_ I thought to myself) where I undressed and put on the bikini before turning on the water to a steaming temperature.

I got in and stood under the water waiting for him to come in, watching the door. The glass enclosure of the stand-up granite shower was fogging up quickly and I smirked as I ran a hand through my now wet hair, imagining what Edward was going to look like in those swim trunks. I shivered in anticipation. Oh, this was the naughtiest I've ever been, especially around a man!

The door to the bathroom opened and shut and I looked on as the bronze-haired God stood before me. The feelings that stirred in the pit of my stomach suddenly weren't uncomfortable and I itched to get my hands on him. His chiseled chest, arms, and toned stomach were taught and absolutely breathtaking.

He opened the glass door and, not taking his eyes off of me, closed it before stepping into the dual shower with me. I looked him up and down, watching the water run down his body in droplets. Oh, Lord.

If I were human still, my face would've been _so_ red!

I forced my eyes back up to meet his and caught him looking my body up and down as well.

_Yes_, I thought, _my face would certainly be the color of a cooked lobster_.

Feeling self-conscious, I reached around him for the shampoo when his hand darted out and grabbed the bottle from my hand. I looked at him in question as he deposited some into his hand and motioned for me to come closer to him.

"May I?" He asked. I merely nodded, my knees going weak.

There was a granite bench that was carved into the shower that I sat on as he lathered the shampoo in my hair, cleansing it. He rinsed my hair, conditioned it, and rinsed it again.

He was reaching for the shower gel and the loofah when I stopped him and repeated the process with him.

I never knew that showering with someone could be so _erotic_.

I kissed him as we washed the dirt from our bodies, our swimsuits keeping us covered.

_Too covered,_ my mind shouted at me. I shot that voice right down. Now was not the time, no matter how much I wouldn't mind at the moment.

"I love you," he whispered to me, his arms around my waist.

"And I you," I replied, the water from the showerheads coming down over our heads as we kissed and held one another close.

* * *

After our shower, we dried one another off, continuing our need to touch, hold, and caress the other. He stepped out of the bathroom, telling me to wait a moment, and returned quickly holding a stack of clothes for me. He handed them to me and kissed me before stepping back out.

I looked at the clothes he brought me and grinned as I saw that he had included a bra and panties for me and they were wrapped in my shirt. I would've laughed out loud if I weren't touched.

I dressed and gave him a moment to do the same. I threw my hair up into a bun so it would wave as it dried and stepped out into the bedroom to see Edward sitting on the couch waiting for me.

"Let's go downstairs and see if everyone else is done, shall we?" I asked him as I took his hand and pulled him downstairs.

Indeed, everyone was downstairs in the living room watching television with the exception of Esme who was dusting. We sat down on one of the couches and watched along, it was some newscast.

"Bella," Jasper broke the silence, "How exactly did you know James?"

I looked at him and noticed that the whole family looked interested as they stared at me, "Oh, well." I started, "I met him when I was travelling through Ohio, near Cincinnati. It was 1935 or 1936. He was just travelling through as well. He saw me hunting and wasn't quite intrigued at my diet, but he had questions. I won't say that he was taken with me; I believe that he just saw me as another girl to have his way with as he evidently didn't have Victoria then. Basically he kept coming on to me and I would always shoot him down. Finally, it became too much and he attacked me and I fought him back, ripped him to pieces and left him to put himself back together. I haven't seen him until today."

My family sat back and let the information sink in.

"How come you never told us?" Alice asked.

I smiled, "Because I never thought it was necessary to tell you about the one vampire that stalked me years ago or the other men that tried to court me. It's over now."

We sat in silence, watching the television for the next hour. Edward and I were playing with each other's hands and occasionally stealing kisses from one another.

I was just thinking about a paper I had to write for our English class that was due sometime next week when Alice suddenly gasped.

"Alice?" Rosalie asked.

Suddenly, Edward growled, "You've got to be kidding me!"

Choruses of "What?" "What is it?" "What's happening?" and "Hello?! Not a mind reader!" (Courtesy of Emmett) filled the room.

Alice shook her head as her vision ended. She looked at Edward, "Did you get that?" her face read.

Edward nodded, "You'd think that she'd stay away, but no!"

I became frustrated, evidently Rosalie did too as she asked, "What the _hell_ is it?"

Edward drew a deep breath; "Victoria has come up with a plan to gather an army of newborns to take us on. I'm assuming for revenge for her mate James."

"How does she expect to do that?" Carlisle asked.

"It looks," Alice said, "that she's decided to go down to the South and ask for a group of them from someone."

Emmett's next statement went for every single one of us as we sat, stunned at this new revelation.

"Well, shit."

* * *

**A/N:** So, what did you think?!! Oh shit is right, yeah? Lol REVIEW!!

OH!!! HEY!!! I added pics to my profile of the shirt Bella wears in chapter 7 AND the swimsuit mentioned in this chapter. HAHA Can you imagine Alice buying that for Bella and Bella's reaction to it?! Hysterical… ;)

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review!! I love you all and thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything but this little plot! :o)**

**AN:** Oh my gosh, I'm so so SO sorry that it's taken me so long to update. I've been so busy with a new job and getting a bunch of personal things in order so it's been really crazy. Oh well, I'm sure you don't want to hear about that and that you'd rather just read the story right? LOL Yeah that's what I thought.

Thank you so much everyone for keeping up with me and being semi-patient (i.e. Truelover hahaha) Props to "luffin edward-bella 4eva" to guessing Victoria would get the newborns from Maria, and thank you to "Abi94," "truelover," "Missy Skywalker," "Calm Serene," "ste11una," and "All The Pretty Horses" for their awesome reviews! ;o)

Oh, and to answer a few questions since I obviously didn't explain clearly, Victoria got away from Rosalie and Alice and ran. Her survival instinct greatly trumps anything else in her, so she found a way through the two of them and ran.

Now, enjoy!

* * *

Jasper's POV.

Once Alice had informed us of what appeared to be Victoria's plans on revenge, we began preparing. Bella questioned whether or not we should get the Volturi involved, as what Victoria was planning was illegal in our world but Carlisle dismissed her query saying that they would come on their own if it truly was something that got out of hand. I agreed.

I couldn't help but think about Maria and her army in the South. Alice said that Victoria was going to go down to the southern states and ask for a portion of newborns. She didn't see much past that because the decision to allow Victoria the newborns hasn't been made. I shudder to think about the damage that could be caused if she were to go through with this plan of hers.

It had now been four days since the skirmish of sorts had happened and currently I was hunting with Bella near the Canadian border. I felt through her emotions that while she was nervous about the outcome of Victoria's plan, she was currently elated from the hunt. I smiled, her exuberance affecting me positively. My little sister was such a good influence on everyone.

I watched from mid-way up a tree as she leapt and fell gracefully from the top of another tree onto her prey: a large, healthy, young Elk. Its death was quick and painless and she drained it dry. As soon as she was finished, she stood and adjusted her clothes before looking at me, "Ready to go home, Jazz?" I smiled and nodded.

* * *

As we ran home, she looked at me, her golden eyes wary, "Jasper, do you think we'll be able to defeat them?"

I was quiet for a moment, gathering my thoughts before I answered, "I do believe that we will be fine, Bells. Of course, I can't pretend to believe that we will all remain unscathed but we can hope. No leader of an army in the south will let go of many newborns; they need them for their feeding grounds."

"I think we'll be fine." Her voice was determined. I nodded.

"Yes, I suppose if worst comes to worst, we shall pull through." I winked at her and she laughed her carefree laugh.

"Come on Jazzy," she giggled, "Race ya!" And she took off. I laughed as I picked up my own pace to race her back home. It was so wonderful to have my sister back, I loved her dearly and I'll be damned if she is scared of someone like Victoria and her ill-laid plans of revenge for her mate.

We raced home. She swore up and down that she won, but Edward winked at me when he caught my train of thought that I just might have let her win.

* * *

Bella's POV.

In the past two weeks since Alice's revelation that Victoria was indeed plotting a battle of sorts, Jasper and Edward, at Carlisle's insistence, were pushing me to practice my shielding, as we didn't know the sorts of mind-altering abilities any of the newborns might have.

"One more time, Bella, I promise. One more time and you won't be bothered until Victoria comes." Jasper urged.

It was yesterday that Alice had the vision we were all waiting for; Victoria had tracked down, of all vampires, Jasper's sire Maria to ask for a small army of newborns to take us out and Maria had granted her wish.

I shook myself from my musings and once again spread my shield over our entire family, excluding Edward. "Can you hear their thoughts, Edward?" I asked him exasperatedly. I would think that they'd know that I had outstanding control over my shield, but I humored them by practicing.

He shook his head, "No, love. You're doing wonderfully."

Carlisle clapped his hands a few times, "Excellent work, Bella!" I dropped my shield and smiled warmly at our family's father figure. Esme lightly wrapped her arms around my shoulders and kissed my cheek.

Alice and Rosalie were sitting in some lawn chairs with unnecessary sunglasses on, Emmet was massaging Rosalie's shoulders while she and Alice read magazines. I went to sit with them, taking Edward's hand and pulling him along.

Jasper had gone to turn on some music and we were all having a conversation over where we would like to move after all of this blew over and our time in Washington was through. We were in the middle of a round of laughter at Emmett's suggestion of moving to some secluded mountain where we could "skydive" from the top of said mountain when Alice suddenly gasped and Edward growled.

"Alice? What is it, dear?" Esme asked quickly. Jasper appeared from nowhere to take his wife's hand, "Alice?"

"No!" She and Edward shouted in unison.

Emmett growled in frustration, "What have I _told you_ about the _lack_ of mindreading skills here?!"

Edward cut him from his rant as Alice shook her head to clear her head, "Victoria is coming. Now. We don't have much time. We need to get away from the house."

"Quickly," Carlisle commanded suddenly, "We must get to the baseball clearing. It's the only place we won't be found out from the noise we will make. Quickly, Esme, children, let's go!"

And with that, my vampiric family rose as one and ran at top speed to our clearing, my brother and Edward staying close to me for protection.

When we arrived at the clearing, Rosalie turned to Alice, "How long do we have until they are here?"

Alice's eyes became distant, "Not long at all," she whispered. I shivered and Edward placed a calming hand on my shoulder and we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Emmett sighed after nearly twenty minutes, clearly getting bored, but immediately stiffened and whipped his head towards the southeast, growling.

Immediately, we also caught the scents blowing in the wind and our stances stiffened. Emmett cracked his knuckles in anticipation, Rosalie broadened her stance, Alice stood straight with her tiny hand clutching my brother's. Jasper had his nose turned up slightly as he stared into the trees, Carlisle and Esme were stiff, her face worried as she chewed her lip. Edward, my sweet, darling Edward, held me to his body so tightly that I felt I would melt into him. All of our eyes were trained on the tree line as we waited.

It was a split second later when we heard the light footfalls of the newborns that were coming our way, and suddenly I heard footfalls around us. I gasped, "They're surrounding us."

Jasper nodded grimly, "Maria trained them well for being so young. But there aren't many of them. We can do this."

Edward growled, "The odds still aren't good. Even if they are small in numbers, they still outnumber us at least two to one."

I placed a hand on his chest, "My brother says we can do this, Edward. I believe him."

Our eyes met and he nodded. I saw the pain in his eyes as he pulled me even tighter and kissed me. This kiss felt wrong, it wasn't a loving kiss; it was a worried, scared kiss. I ran my hand over his cheek in comfort before squeezing his hand reassuringly. I knew the rest of my family was doing the same with their mates.

As we retrained our eyes on the trees surrounding us, we heard a high-pitched girlish laugh emanate from the forest. "Victoria." Esme whispered.

The laugh came forth again as we suddenly caught flashes of pale white skin dashing through and around the trees. We were quickly surrounded on all sides by the heaving chests of the red-eyed newborns. I took an involuntary step back, fear encasing me for a brief moment.

One of them stepped forward and from her fiery-red hair and catlike strides I knew immediately it was Victoria: the woman who thirsted for death.

Edward growled, evidently catching something in her thoughts, "Mate for mate, Victoria? Newborns? Are you out of your mind?"

Victoria's beautiful face crumbled into a snarl, "You killed James. Now she is going to die as a replacement."

"It won't bring him back!" Alice cried, "This accomplishes nothing!"

Victoria whipped her head toward Alice and Jasper immediately took a step forward to protect her if need-be, "Nothing? _Nothing?!_ Tell me, little pixie, have you ever had your heart ripped from you? Have you ever lost anything? No, I believe you are too dainty and sweet to have anything taken from you. You've been spoiled."

It was my turn to growl, "Enough Victoria."

The snarl that ripped from her thin body would've scared me senseless had I been human, but I merely replied with my own as both groups of vampires tensed as one fluid movement, waiting for the other side to strike. We wouldn't be going first.

I heard Alice cry out as she gripped her arm. "Alice!" I screamed.

"Bella! Your shield!" Carlisle called quickly.

I nodded, throwing my protection over my sister-in-law. She immediately quieted, Jasper holding her in his arms. I scanned the newborns surrounding us for the source. My eyes narrowed as I saw it was a dark-haired male. He smirked at me.

"You are a shield, aren't you little one?" Victoria sneered, "No trouble for Bradley."

I glared at this Bradley as suddenly, for the first time in my life, I felt something tickle my brain. I shook my head to rid myself of the feeling. Edward looked at me oddly. What was _that?_ Nothing had ever gotten through my shield before.

There it was again. I brought a hand up to my temple as the tickling grew to be a draining feeling. My strength wasn't leaving me, but I felt as if my shield was.

I gasped, "NO! Stop it!" I glared at him, "How are you doing this?!"

Another newborn that looked incredibly anxious to fight was bouncing on her feet giggled, "Bradley nullifies powers!" She was about to continue when Victoria snapped at her to quiet herself before smiling at us. My shield was so weak. I couldn't even expand it now. I looked desperately at Edward. "My shield, Edward. It's – I can't use it!"

His eyes widened and he prepared to say something when he was interrupted.

"Bradley can do one other thing too," She shrieked in laughter. "Care for a demonstration?" She nodded at Bradley and suddenly Esme fell to her knees, a hard ripping sound came from her body.

"ESME!" Carlisle cried as he fell beside her. She was holding her arm to her body; a large, bloodless gash was visible.

The sensation was back in my head but it was suddenly pushed out as a force weakened my body and shoved me to the ground. I cried out in agony. My body felt as if it were on fire.

I heard my family cry my name as whom I assumed to be Edward pulled me to their body protectively. And as suddenly as it came on, the pain stopped. I gasped for breath as Edward crushed me to his chest, his face buried in my hair.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!" Jasper screamed. I wasn't used to his voice so loud so I flinched.

"I disabled her protection mechanism and attacked her body." Bradley sneered.

Everything was silent for a moment until one of the other newborns, evidently fed up with all of our talking and the demonstrations, leapt forward and began slashing at our family. All hell suddenly broke loose.

"GO!" Victoria cried out and my family and I were swarmed. We jumped apart and each began a deadly dance of death with the newborns that just kept coming at us.

I cried out as one got a grip on my left arm and pulled back as if to rip it from my body but I was saved when Emmett jumped forward and punched the newborn in the face. I helped him dismember the intruder and we separated once again to our fights.

I caught a glimpse of red as a clawed hand flashed into my periphery. I jumped back and threw my hand out to retaliate at Victoria, catching her in her face with my fist. Once my fist connected with her face, however, she disappeared and was replaced by two crimson-eyed newborns that jumped onto my body, one pinning my arms behind my back as the other tacked me to the ground. "Bradley! Now!" one of them cried.

I heard a laugh before I felt my body weaken once again, and I screamed.

"EDWARD!" I cried. I felt my left arm pull from my body and I shrieked even louder. I sobbed in agony. I had never had this happen to me.

I distantly heard a high-pitched victorious laugh that quickly turned into a scream before silence became of the voice. I cried out again as the newborns tore at my body. My left arm barely hanging from my torso, I was flipped onto my stomach as I was punched, scratched, bitten, and torn at. I had no idea if my family was having a hard time.

The agony being poured upon me from Bradley's power suddenly diminished as I heard a roar of rage that sounded like Edward. In my pain-filled haze, I used my remaining arm to weakly throw one of the newborns from my body. I cried out again as the remaining newborn continued to bite at me.

"GET OFF OF HER!" I heard Edward scream as the weight from the other newborn suddenly lifted from my body. "JASPER!" He cried.

In my haze I saw Edward shove the female newborn towards my brother who, with the help of Emmett tore her apart in rage.

"Bella!" Edward fell to his knees beside me. I only moaned. I distantly noticed that his clothes were torn and his shirt had all but fallen from his body. "Bella, please love, stay with me. CARLISLE!" I flinched and my breath hitched. The wounds that the newborns had inflicted upon my body felt like they were on fire. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no Bella. Oh, no, they got Esme too…" He pulled me to his chest and I cried out.

"Are-are they gone?" I asked him quietly. I felt him shake his head, "No, one got a way. He's not far though."

"Is Esme alright?" He didn't answer right away, "E-Edward, is she o-okay?"

He nodded, "She will be fine. I can't see her though."

"I'll be fine," I insisted, "I want you to go check on her. Please? I need to know she's okay." I was in so much pain. I felt my body slowly beginning to heal, but the venom from the newborns was like fire on my wounds.

Edward began to protest, "Please." I pleaded. "You can come right back." I tried to make my voice steady, "I'll be fine. I'm already healing."

He looked at me desperately and sighed, "Just for a moment. I'll look for you, okay?"

He stood and walked quickly towards Esme, his eyes constantly looking back at me.

I lay on the ground waiting for Edward to return, dealing with the pain in my body. I listened to the sounds around me, Jasper and Emmett comforting their wives. I hoped they were all okay. I could tell that Rosalie was, I almost smiled as I heard her complain about the state of her hair and clothes. I wondered briefly how I had allowed myself to fall so quickly to these newborns but then I remembered the effect Bradley's power had over me, Victoria had obviously told him to focus on me rather than my family.

I was focusing so hard on my family around me that I didn't hear the footfalls until they had already left the ground. I was just trying to sit up and was immediately tackled back to the ground. I heard a "Damn it! NO!" but it was too late as the lone newborn had already bitten into my neck and was about to tear my head from my body. I looked desperately at Edward and saw him leap and pull the newborn from me and began to tear it apart piece by piece. The shrieks it gave off as my love killed it would've been heart wrenching had it not just tried to take my own life.

I lay back down on the ground, willing my body to heal; I could already feel the pieces and gashes fusing back together flawlessly. I closed my eyes and took a deep, unnecessary breath. That was too close, I berated myself, how could I have let myself seem so _weak?!_

"Bells? Bella?" Jasper had come to me and was holding my face in both of his hands, "Are you okay? Please!"

I opened my eyes and smiled brightly at him, the pain was fading quickly and I thanked whatever God could hear me for being a vampire. "I'm okay, Jazz. I'm feeling much better already." He breathed a sigh of relief and hugged me to him. "Already healing." I sat up and held onto my left upper arm, "That stings though." I winced. "How is everyone else?"

He hugged me tightly, "They're fine. That Bradley focused on hurting you so we were able to bypass the affects and fight properly. You however, had no chance no matter how skilled a fighter you are. We should've protected you!"

I used my good arm to pull my brother close to me, "It's okay, Jazz. I'm fine. Bradley's power wasn't mental, it was purely physical and I wasn't able to get away from it." I looked up to see Edward as he threw the pieces of the last newborn into the fire that Emmett and Alice had made and ran towards me.

He pulled me into a hug and I could feel him shaking. I didn't know if it was from relief, happiness, anger, or all of the above, but I was so happy to have him holding me. I winced as his hand brushed over where my left arm should've been completely attached to my left shoulder and he pulled away suddenly, "You're hurt still." He turned towards Carlisle, "Carlisle! Her arm…" He trailed off and Carlisle was there in a flash.

He examined me quickly and carefully ran his fingers along the jagged tear in my skin. I bit back a groan as he mused out loud, "We should go ahead and go home, she'll be fine and I can put a sling on her to keep her arm in place so it can heal faster." He nodded to himself before looking at me and smiling softly, "You'll be good as new in a matter of hours, Bella. Bradley and those other two newborns did a number on you."

He stood and I quickly found myself in Edward's arms and we were off running towards the house, Carlisle, Jasper and Alice following. Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie stayed behind to make sure the flames from the fire didn't get out of control.

I put my head in the crook of my love's neck as he ran with me, cradling me to his chest. I felt slightly ashamed that I couldn't hold my own against the newborns. I knew that it was because of Bradley's powerful gift, but I still couldn't help but feel ashamed that I was the only one who fell from his influence. I closed my eyes and cradled my left arm as I wallowed.

"Bella, stop. Please." Jasper said quietly as we neared the house, "It wasn't your fault, now quit."

I merely nodded, I'd be fine and I will get over it quickly, but I had to have my embarrassed moment at my inability to protect myself. I distantly hoped for a brief moment that I would be able to be presented with the opportunity to protect myself in the future from something, but I pushed that thought into the back of my mind as we entered the house and Edward took me upstairs to our room, followed by Carlisle.

He laid me upon our bed and held my hand as Carlisle reexamined my shoulder, 'hmm'-ing and the like. "I'll be right back," he said and he was gone and back in a flash. He had a bag with him when he returned that I supposed held whatever supplies he needed.

He pulled out a sling and set it aside and then an Ace-bandage roll. I raised my eyebrow at him.

Noticing this, he smiled at me, "I'm going to use the bandage and wrap around your shoulder and torso to keep it snug to your body to allow it to heal quickly and the sling is to keep your arm immobile for a few hours. You won't even scar." He winked at me and Edward sat me up, pulled my shirt from my body, and held me still as Carlisle fixed me up. I was hardly feeling the pain now, it was a mere sting, and I knew he was telling the truth when he said I would be perfectly fine within a few hours.

"There you go," Carlisle stood, "All finished. Just don't move your left arm for at least an hour to let it heal properly. Your arm and shoulder are already fusing back together."

"I'll take care of her from here, Dad. Thanks." Edward nodded in thanks to him.

"Yes, thank you so much," I used my good arm to hug Carlisle.

Carlisle stood and walked from the room, "You're welcome. Just don't move it for an hour."

* * *

Edward's POV

I held Bella to me as we lay on the bed. I wasn't scared of losing her anymore, but I was terrified when I saw that last newborn begin to tear at her. I felt my body tremble for a moment and I buried my face into her hair and inhaled. She would need to shower soon to get the dirt from her hair and body, as would I. Perhaps we would shower together once again… I had wanted so badly to take her when she surprised me by throwing swim trunks at me as an invitation to shower with her.

She stroked my arm with her good one, I was proud of her for not moving her left arm even a millimeter as per Carlisle's request. I lifted my head and smiled at her beautiful heart-shaped face, reaching up and running my hand along her jaw-line. I leaned in and kissed her softly, "I love you, my Bella."

She smiled brightly, "I love you, too." She closed her eyes and leaned into me, "Has it been an hour yet?"

"It's been nearly three, love."

She sat up quickly, "I thought I felt normal again… Has it seriously been that long?!"

I nodded and she rolled her eyes, muttering, "Figures," under her breath.

"We should get showers, love. We're covered in dirt."

She gasped and ran a hand through her hair, "Oh, I must look wretched. Do you think Carlisle would kill me for taking this thing off now?" She gestured at her shoulder. I shook my head, "No, it's healed by now."

She smiled and took off the sling and I helped her unwrap the bandage Carlisle had placed around her. "Go, on," I said, "give it a try."

She raised her arm above her head and brought it around in a few circles. "Doesn't hurt, moves fine…" She trailed off, "Stand up real quick."

I stood and watched as she pulled her left arm back and made a fist, I was about to ask what she was doing when she suddenly punched my shoulder.

"Hey! Bella! What was that for?!"

"I can still punch with that arm if I need to… Yep. It's good." She winked at me.

"You didn't quite need to punch me, however." I smirked at her.

She merely smiled and threw her arms around me. She stood on the tips of her toes and whispered in my ear, "Shower with me?"

I growled and picked her up and we were suddenly lying back on the bed again with me on top of her. We were kissing every inch of each other, squeezing and pulling at the other. I was lost in my mind; nothing logical coming through the barrier that suddenly appeared. She pulled at the collar of my shirt and brought my face to hers where I crashed my lips to her own. She ran her hands through my hair and down my back and my breath hitched when she hooked a leg around one of mine to pull my closer to her.

I knew we should stop due to our mutual agreement of marriage first and it was becoming increasingly harder to silence the roaring want and need of her body. I could feel as she arched her body to meet mine when I kissed my way up and down her neck and I was nearly lost again.

I began to kiss her mouth even more slowly in an attempt to clear my head and I knew she caught on when she started to settle her breathing and roaming hands. I pulled back and she moaned and closed her eyes.

I smiled at her, "Bella, my love."

She opened her eyes, and I noticed that they had gone dark. I felt a fierce feeling of protectiveness fall over me; I knew I would never allow anything to hurt her again. I could've lost her to a couple of newborns today and I was thankful that I didn't. She smiled at me, "Yes?"

"You're going to be the death of me." I winked at her and her smile grew.

"Now, about that shower… I suppose a cold one is in order?"

I threw my head back and laughed.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, I know it took me for freaking EVER to get this written and up and I apologize for that but it took me a couple of days to write this one out since even though I have the entire story outlined, I didn't quite know where to bring this chapter. :o/ Btw, my spelling and grammar check on my Mac didn't find anything wrong in this chapter, so I hope it functioned correctly!

LOL ;o) Oh, and this chapter has a RIDICULOUSLY large word count… Like seriously, it's 4,653 right now. Insane right? It deserves a long, nice review_, right?!_ Hey, I was NICE and didn't have a cliffie for the first time either! … I just noticed that. HAHA

Thank you everyone! I love you all! You're ALL so wonderful to me! I hope you enjoyed chapter 10!! Now, REVIEW! :o)


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything but this little plot! :o)**

**AN: **Oh GOD This past month has been absolutely insane… It was nuts when I posted chapter 10 and it's even crazier right now!! HAHA Like seriously, I've completely lost my ability to focus on more than a couple of things so I've dropped all but one of my classes at UC, have focused on working and saving up money for my move to California in a year, made arrangements for photographers, built up and re-built up my acting resume, and started gathering things for my meeting(s) with agent(s). UGH I'm SO BUSY!! But I love it… Too bad I promised my family I'd finish college… :o/ LOL Can you believe that I've spent 3 years (going on 4) in college, had 4 majors, and I'm only getting an damned Associate's Degree in Advanced Medical Imaging? Yeah, it's a 4-year program, but they give you one degree after 2 years in the program… Too bad I didn't do this 3 years ago when I thought I wanted to be a criminalist, then a cop, then a nurse. F.M.L., right?

Anyway, thank you so so so much to everyone who reviewed for chapter 10!! Many thanks toward –Azn-Grl-Twilight-Fan-, Krugness, CloverBabe, twilightspygoddess, Missy Skywalker (of COURSE!! You always write the BEST reviews, love), truelover (for being so impatient and making me remember that there are people who are anxious as hell to read my story), and LeLe1103 (I can't believe you read all 10 chapters in one go! Thanks!).

Fanfiction (dot) net is being super stupid right now and won't let anyone log in, so be assured that I wrote this on Feb 23, 2009 and not however many days it'll be until ff . net grows a pair and fixes their stuff.

THANK YOU!!!! Now, read! ;o) LOL Sorry for such a long A/N…

* * *

Jasper's POV

I stayed close to my sister for the following weeks after the incident with the newborns. She was more embarrassed than anything about not being able to hold her own, but really, no one blamed her. For the love of God, she was the one being focused on!

"Jazz, stop. You're making me frustrated," my beautiful Alice mumbled as she placed her tiny hand on my forearm. I smiled sheepishly at her, "Sorry," I mumbled, "I didn't realize…" I trailed off.

"Bella is fine, she will be fine, and she will _stay_ fine. You and Edward need to give her space. She's going crazy, surely you can feel _that_ in her emotions."

I shook my head, "I know she's frustrated, but I can't help it. It's for her own good. Besides, with both Edward _and_ I watching over her, nothing bad can happen. It's as simple as that."

"But Jasper, really… It's…" She sighed, "I'm not going to get through to you two anyway, I don't know why I'm trying."

"Bella herself has tried, but it hasn't worked yet. She is probably just rebelling a bit." I was certain that she is only rebelling. I can't help it! I'm protective of my little sister…

Seeing her being torn at by those newborns tore at my heart and I couldn't help the all-encompassing rage that filled me in the heat of the moment. My little sister was being attacked and there wasn't anything I could do about it at the time; I was too busy dealing with the newborns that were jumping at me. I swore to myself that I would never _ever_ allow something like that to happen to her again, the same obviously going for the rest of my family, but Bella for certain. I don't care how old of a vampire she is.

"You two are too stubborn for your own good." She stood up and took a few steps before turning at me, "I'm telling you, if I know Bella like I know I do, she will go crazy and do something to get away from you and Edward. You two have been doing nothing over the past few weeks other than hounding her and watching her every move short of watching her shower. Just- just try to let up on her, will you?" She left.

I sat staring after her, thinking about what she said. Surely Bella wouldn't do anything rash. Edward, being the good man I know he is, and I weren't hounding her nor were we watching _everything_ she did, and even if we were, she knew why. It was for good reason.

I knew deep down that I was merely deluding myself, but, hey, a big brother has to protect his little sister, right?

I nodded to myself, that's right.

I heard Edward mutter under his breath to me, "Yes, Jasper, that's right."

I smiled, now to see what Bella was up to.

* * *

Bella's POV

Edward and Jasper have been slowly and more and more progressively gotten me down to the last of my nerves with their hovering. I knew that Alice was planning ton trying to talk them into letting down their guards a bit, but I wasn't optimistic.

Neither was she.

I sighed as I ran my fingers over the spines of my books in the room Edward and I shared. His CD's were stacked along one wall and my books on the other. I was beginning to feel like a caged animal that was constantly under surveillance by zookeepers.

Edward was in the bathroom running a towel over his head; he had just finished a very quick shower. If only I wouldn't be in trouble with him or my brother for so much as sitting outside alone… I'd certainly be out there basking in the small bit of sunlight this area of Washington gets if it weren't for that. I sighed again as he stepped out of the bathroom, having dressed at record speeds into a black t-shirt and dark denim jeans.

He winked at me and stepped forward to hug me. "I love you." He muttered.

"I love you too," I smiled gently at him.

We stood still for a few minutes, just listening to the sounds around us and I got up the nerve to look him straight in the eye for the fifth time this week. But, as I opened my mouth he frowned at me, "No, Bella. Why must you do this? We are only trying to protect you!"

I growled and he stepped back from me and went towards the bed. I turned my back to him.

"Really Edward, you can stop following me! I'm getting so tired of this!" I stomped my foot in frustration. This was getting absolutely ridiculous, and I was certainly going to let Edward, and my brother, know it!

"I'm _completely_ healed! I have been for _weeks!_ You have no business following me around like I'm an invalid! I'm a _vampire_ just like _you _and I can take care of myself!"

"But what about if you come across someone else like Bradley, hmm? What then?" Edward asked as he lounged on our bed, his eyebrow now raised as if he knew he was going to win a bet.

I screamed out in frustration, "You've lost your mind! Bradley's gift was _never_ heard of and therefore it's _beyond_ unlikely that I'll ever come across anyone else with even _remotely_ the same power as him! Even Carlisle said so! Don't you believe him?"

Edward seemed startled for a split second before his face molded right back into that stupid, smart-aleck-smirk he's been wearing on his carved face for the past few weeks. "Of course I believe him, love, but it means nothing to me right now. I plan on protecting you, don't you see that?" He reached for me and cupped my face into the palm of his hand.

"I know what you're doing Edward, don't think it'll work on me right now!" I huffed, "I'm trying to be serious here. I've been a vampire for longer than you've been on this _planet!_ Don't you think you and Jasper are going overboard?"

"Of course not, love."

I howled in frustration again, "You're ridiculous!" I punched him in the arm, "You've got to be kidding me! You're insane, hard-headed, stubborn, stupid, idiotic, unreal, and much too unbelievably--" he cut me off with a hard kiss to my lips and the words I was going to shout next flew out of my mind.

I gripped his shirt with one hand and pulled at his hair with the other. This was going to be one of our more rough sessions – I liked those. I growled joyously as he pulled me to him, slipping one hand down and around my hip to lift me to him, the other pulled at my knee, helping me up. I wrapped my legs around him and felt more than heard when he too growled. I didn't even realize we were now both on our bed with him between my legs, my back to the bed.

I pulled back for a split second and he took that opportunity to kiss down my neck, "Too unbelievably what, love?" He asked between kisses.

I choked on the words for a second, "A-a-amazing." I stuttered, "No, wait, not that… Oh, yeah that! No, wait… Okay, yep… Darn it! Oh, _you!" _I can't believe myself right now, whenever I was about to say something he probably wouldn't like, he would suck or nip my neck, ear, or clavicle, grip and squeeze my behind, cut me off with a long kiss, or pull my hair.

Oh he knew me too well. I shouldn't have told him I loved it when he pulled my hair.

"Oh screw it," I muttered and I rolled us over so that I was on top. I straddled him and leaned down and bit his ear softly before whispering, "Do you like it when I do that?"

He moaned and pulled on my hips, I smiled. "Is that so? Well, then let me be on my own, and stop following me around all of the time. Get Jasper to stop too."

Edward stopped his advances under me, and glared, "Absolutely not."

I raised an eyebrow at him, "Edward, don't be ridiculous."

"Bella, don't _you_ be ridiculous."

"I'm fine! I'll stay fine!"

"Yes, you will!"

"I know!"

"… Because Jasper and I are keeping watch over you."

"But--"

He cupped my face and leaned closer to me, "Bella, please, can't you give us this? You've had to watch over yourself for so many years. Please allow us this one thing. As the man who loves you with all of his heart, please allow me to watch over you, allow me to take care of you." He dipped his head down, "Allow me to keep you safe and sound, and love you. Allow your brother and I to do what we haven't been able to do in the past."

Well, that speech did exactly what I know he intended it to do; it shut my mouth.

I put my head down on his shoulder, "I love you." I whispered.

"I love you too, my Bella." He hugged me close.

"This conversation isn't over." I warned him.

He sighed, "I figured that, my beautiful Bella."

As long as he knew that, I was fine. I was going absolutely insane being here with them watching my every move. I had to get out on my own for at least a few hours… Perhaps for just one hunting trip in the forest near by…

* * *

I sat down on the piano bench and began to play a simple melody. I sighed as I lost track of where my hands went and listened as my fingers trailed over the keys making a frustrated, chopping sound. I was putting my emotions into sound and I knew it would probably annoy my brother and especially Edward to no end.

Speaking of the two of them, they were currently two rooms away playing a video game with Emmett.

"Play something lighter or prettier, will you?" Alice's sweet voice called as she danced into the room, swirling to the melody.

I began playing a recent composition called _Through the Kaleidoscope _that I had become increasingly fond of that was written by a man named Steven Cravis in 1995 if I wasn't mistaken. It was such a beautiful composition of the classical genre! I closed my eyes as I allowed my hands to flow to the music that Alice kept dancing to. I smiled as I opened them for a moment to watch her as she did a plié then a perfect arabesque before turning and turning into pirouette after pirouette in time with the music, giggling as she danced fluid move after fluid move.

I sighed as I closed my eyes again and wished I could go out on my own without having to be watched by my overprotective brother and overprotective love of my life.

As I completed the piece Alice squealed, "Bravo Bella! Magnifique!" She clapped. "I've never heard that one before… Then again I don't typically listen to classical like Edward." She grinned and sat next to me, "Play some more, please? I don't care what it is. Edward doesn't play nearly enough so we never get to listen."

If I were human I would've blushed as I acquiesced to her request, thinking of ways to sneak away from Jasper and Edward without getting caught.

* * *

Edward's POV

I listened as Bella played song after song for Alice. She truly was a magnificent pianist. I loved listening to her.

Emmett tore me from my thoughts, "Edward! Get your head in the game, man! How are you supposed to be killed if you aren't even paying attention?!"

I laughed and began to press the buttons required to make this atrocious game I was conned into playing actually work.

I listened distantly as my Bella stopped playing and walked to our room to read I assume since that is what she has been doing. I suppose I could allow her to have some time alone to do that.

"Should one of us go to watch her?" Jasper asked me suddenly.

I was surprised when Emmett shook his head, "No, she's getting increasingly frustrated with you two. Leave her be for a few minutes. She can't get into _that _much trouble in a couple minute time span."

Jasper and I looked at each other, "Ten minutes?"

"At the very most," I added.

He nodded, "I don't know how I feel about this."

"Nor do I. I don't like not being with her right now. What if something happens?"

Emmett waved his hands in front of our faces, "Seriously, you two. Let the girl live a little. She's reading a damn book; she'll be _fine_. Play the freaking game! I'm killing you two, that _never_ happens!"

So, with a large amount of reluctance, we resumed playing the video game, hoping that Bella would stay put and not live up to her pleas of doing something on her own.

* * *

Bella's POV.

Oh my _word!_ I'm so excited that for once I wasn't followed up to my room by one of them! I picked up a book and skimmed the cover and the summary on back as I sat down on the bed.

I wondered what it would hurt if I took a quick hunting trip alone just for some time to myself. It couldn't possibly hurt anything… Well Edward and Jasper would kill me when I returned, but it would be worth it, I supposed.

I stood up quietly so as to not alert the boys downstairs and tiptoed to the windows and silently slid one open. I looked around and listened hard to ensure that I wasn't caught yet before jumping and landing silently upon the grass in the back yard. I ran at full speed into the woods, jumping over the river and leaping through the boughs.

_Finally _I was _free_, if only for a little while.

I wondered if Alice saw me leaving or if Edward and Jasper caught on to me leaving yet but shrugged my shoulders to myself. I wanted to be selfish for just a few minutes while I hunted alone, so I ran westward, and I ran and I ran.

_Ahh, alone._ _Wonderful!!_

I began my hunt, lifting my nose to the air to catch the scent of animals in the forest. As I caught the scent of a herd of deer, I smiled and took off.

I grinned once again as the herd came into my line of sight about a mile ahead of me.

I slowed for a split second as an odd scent overcame me, before hurrying on my way; what on _earth_ is that smell? I shook my head, supposing that some wet dog had gotten lose from its human owners and was wandering around in the forest.

I jumped into a tree and picked out a large buck. I licked my lips as I felt the venom pool in my mouth and allowed my instincts to overcome me. It was time to hunt.

I leaned back onto the balls of my feet. Then, I leapt, my arms outstretched toward the buck, my mouth open, eyes solely for the animal.

But something went wrong.

Something went drastically, horribly wrong.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay!! How was it?!! I hope you all liked it!! PLEASE please please please please let me know what you thought of it!!

REVIEW!!

Word count: 2982


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything but my plot! ;o)**

**A/N: **Thank you everyone who helped with the incident involving the person who used my story and tried to call it their own. You have no idea how much it means to me to have people so willing to jump to attention for what is right. You all are truly amazing, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support!! The story she put up has been removed thanks to your wonderful help!! So, once again, thank you!!

Anyway, Thank you so much for the reviews from chapter 11!! So far, this story has 39,064 hits and I can't tell you how great that makes me feel!! Special thanks (and dedications) to mudbloodpotter05, twiXlite (for the report), MrsCullen2992, Abi94, Krugness, -Azn-Grl-Twilight-Fan- (your review was hysterical haha), gemini169 (for ACTUALLY reading my A/N's and commenting!), and munlleca (yay for reading my A/N's!). You guys are amazing!!

Now, enjoy!!

Chapter 12!!

* * *

Jasper POV

It had been nearly twenty minutes of silence coming from Bella. It was making me anxious, and I knew that anxiousness was rubbing off on Emmett and Edward due to my gift. Emmett kept assuring the two of us that she had to be fine just reading a "freaking book," as he put it.

"Damn it, Jasper, you're being no fun. It's no fun beating you if you aren't even trying. The same for you, Edward!" Emmett tore through my thoughts.

"Shut up, Em--"

Suddenly, Alice's voice cut through the air, "JASPER! EDWARD!"

In a flash, we were up and in front of her; Edward's emotions were terrified. "Are you _certain_ Alice?!"

"What is it?! What happened, Alice?" I took her by her shoulders and looked into her eyes. Her emotions were going haywire.

It only took one word to both floor me and send a fire raging through my body:

"_Bella,"_ she whispered, her eyes seeking Edward's.

"What about her? She's upstairs still, isn't she?" Emmett had walked into the room.

"Where is she, Alice? What happened?"

"She, oh God. Oh, no no no no no!"

"She _disappeared? _Alice? How? Why? When?"

"She left!" Alice shrieked, "I saw her running, hunting, alone, and then her future disappeared! Oh God, I don't know how this could've happened! We have to find her! Oh this is all my fault! _How_ could I have _missed_ this?!"

Edward shoved me away, grabbing my wife by her shoulders, "Which way?"

She must've answered him via her thoughts because he was instantly outside running towards the trees, myself and the rest of my family (who had heard the commotion and came to watch) following close behind.

How could this have happened?! We were watching her! Something terrible could be happening, or already happened, to my sister! What sort of brother was I? I prayed to whatever God or Gods were listening that she would be okay, but even I can't let go of my gut feelings. I pushed myself harder, glancing to Alice to see the fury on her face at what I assumed to be towards herself for this incident.

"I hope we're there in time, wherever we're going," I heard Esme whisper from behind me as we flew through the trees.

I swear to _God_ that if _anything_ has befallen my sister, she wouldn't be able to lift a finger without someone watching.

No, that would happen even if nothing has happened to her. I was going to kill her for sneaking out.

* * *

Bella's POV

The moment I leapt from my perch in the tree towards the buck, my eyes only for my meal, a feeling of dread slipped over me.

The dread lasted for all of a millisecond, for I was immediately taken down by a large, dirty, disgusting smelling, fur-ball with claws; claws that, to my great surprise, were able to dig into my normally rock-hard skin.

I cried out as the fanged beast threw me to the ground, snarling and tearing at my clothing and my body. I had no time to think before I reflexively jumped back to my feet nearly twenty yards from the creature. I did a quick once-over and was struck by how _massive_ the russet-colored mongrel was.

It growled at me once more as it began to advance towards me, and I crouched, snarling. I could see this _wolf_ creature had companions from the corners of my eyes. I was surrounded.

_Why_, in the name of _all_ that is Holy, did no one tell me that Forks and the surrounding area was _infested_ by enormous, terrible smelling, dogs that had the apparent ability to _kill vampires?!_ If I survived this, I was going to kill someone in my family.

The russet-colored, sharp fanged and sharp-clawed beast leapt at me just as I leapt at it and we collided mid-air. I screamed out in pain as its jaw's clamped down on my shoulder.

What in the _hell_ is this animal?

"ARGH! Get _OFF!_" I cried as I lifted a fist and felt it collide with its enormous head. It yelped as it fell back only to be replaced by two more of its companions as it shook its disgusting head of the pain I'm sure was still rattling its brains.

I couldn't spend any more time thinking of the beast I just threw from me as the two others jumped at me, one from behind and the other from my left. One bit the right side of my torso and I found my legs were no longer below me as I flew through the air and destroyed a tree upon impact. The tree did me no damage, but the bite I sustained sure did. I clutched at my side in pain as what I assumed was a type of venom combined with my own that flowed through my body and caused me a blinding pain.

I quickly stood, bracing myself with one hand against the tree as I looked around me for a means of escape. I now knew that I had to get out of this situation or I would surely die. Fear gripped me as I jumped at one of the wolf-like creatures and began pounding and kicking my way through their barricade.

They seemed to be laughing, _laughing_ at my tries for escape. They bit at me and tore my clothes and skin; one still hasn't let go of my left arm.

I fell to the ground, crying out in fear and pain, as two more jumped into the fray to tear me apart. The russet one bit my already nearly shredded torso, the dark brown one bit down harder on my left shoulder and arm, and the tan colored one bit my left thigh. I screamed at the top of my lungs, hoping beyond hope that someone, _anyone_ from my family would hear and come to my aide. I was going to _die._

"BELLA!"

"BELLS, HOLD ON!"

"WE'RE COMING!"

I vaguely heard the voices of what I recognized to be my family as I cried out again as my left arm was partly torn from my body by the dark brown one, and the massive jaws of the tan wolf crushed my thigh.

"JASPER! EDWARD!" I screamed one last time before twisting within the jaws of the beasts. I balled my right hand into a fist and punched the tan one in between its eyes, "Get _off!"_

"BELLA!" I heard Edward's musical voice just before I saw him leap through the air and begin tearing at the beasts that were holding me down and tearing me apart.

I looked over and saw Alice viciously swiping at one of the wolves, "ALICE!" I cried out, "WATCH OUT!" But it was too late; she was tackled by another wolf.

I cried out in pain as my attention was brought back to my own body as the russet wolf clamped down harder upon my torso. I couldn't bring in any more air, as it was crushing my chest now, but I still struggled to get away.

I watched as Edward grabbed it by its jaws and pried them apart and away from me before tossing it against a tree. I screamed out again as my love dropped to his knees beside me, "Oh, God, Bella. Oh, no no no."

I glanced down and if I were human, I would've passed out cold. My left thigh didn't even resemble a thigh as most of it was missing and laying a foot or two away, my left shoulder and arm were also in pieces and my torso, oh, my torso was in shambles.

And every bit of it hurt terribly.

Esme dropped to her knees next to my head and held either side of my face, "Edward," she said, "Help the others! Carlisle is speaking with Sam. I'll stay with her, help them!"

He opened his mouth to argue but I choked out to him, "Go!" and he did.

I held one of Esme's hands as she smoothed my hair back, "Oh Bella, oh look at you." She gasped, "Alice! Oh no! JASPER!"

I turned my head to watch as a wolf jumped and bit my sister, lifting her into the air and tossing her like a rag-doll to another one who proceeded to literally chomp away at her tiny body, I cried out as I heard her cries.

"JASPER!" I screamed, "ALICE!" I couldn't move any more, but I watched as Jasper and Rosalie tore Alice from the beast and Rosalie threw it away from us.

"She can't have known, Sam! Bella doesn't hunt humans, she's one of us!" I heard Carlisle plead with a black colored wolf, Edward right beside him, "Call them off, Sam! Call them off, now!"

The wolf huffed and suddenly, all of the wolves around us came to a stop.

I breathed a sigh of relief and stopped paying attention as I allowed the pain to overcome me. I didn't have to fight anymore.

I felt Esme leave my side as Edward fell next to me. "Oh, Bella, my love, how bad is it?"

I whimpered; I felt so weak. I felt awful.

"Bella!" I heard my brother call out.

I shook my head, "Go to Alice, Jazz. She's hurt, too."

"I've got her, Jasper, go to Alice." I heard Edward tell him from above me. I saw him nod weakly before tending to his wife, Esme and Emmett helping.

"Bella, here, let's put you back together." Rosalie said from my left as she began to patch me up and smooth the pieces with Edward's help. I cried out and twisted in pain as each piece was reattached. "Oh, Bella, I'm so sorry. I don't mean to hurt you." She said.

I merely shook my head and tried to focus on Carlisle speaking.

"She doesn't hunt humans, I assure you." "She didn't know anything about the treaty." "She didn't know the boundary-line, we expected to be with her every time she hunted."

I let his voice drown out and allowed myself to zone out as Rosalie and Edward did their best to 'fix' me until Carlisle could properly care for Alice and myself, as we were the only two with extensive damage.

"Edward," I whispered as he lifted me into his arms, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's okay, love. Just rest. We're going home."

I nodded and closed my eyes, trying to keep the still-blinding pain from entering my mind. I whimpered again as I opened them one last time to glance at Alice who was being cradled in Jasper's arms as our family made their way back to the house.

I felt my face screw up as my lips trembled and my body shook in tearless sobs. My body hurt so badly, I had lost the ability to move on my own due to all of the bits that were torn from me that were still trying to re-thread themselves together again.

"Bella? Bella, can you answer me? Carlisle," I heard Edward speak from above me, "You really need to look them over, she isn't responding anymore."

Since I know that vampires can't lose consciousness, I did the next best thing, I retreated from my body into my mind, so I could get away from the pain. I've never been torn apart before and this was beyond excruciating. I desperately hoped that Alice wasn't in nearly the shape I was. I felt my head loll back and distantly heard as my family sped up towards home.

"You're going to be okay, just deal with the pain for a bit longer, love." I heard my angel say above me. I didn't acknowledge him other than to say, "It hurts so _bad._"

"I know, love, I know."

* * *

The next thing I knew, I was laying on our bed with Carlisle running his fingers over my shoulder, with Edward holding my right hand. I bit back a groan, but screwed up my face in a grimace.

He looked at me, "You have a lot of healing to do, Bella, I'm not going to lie to you. Your injuries are extensive. You're lucky that you weren't entirely pulled apart."

"I think they were playing with me," I whispered. "I feel so weak."

"That would be because of the venom from the wolves. I imagine you're still in a great amount of pain."

"Is that normal from being pulled apart?" I asked him gently.

He shook his head, "No, if it were only a vampire to have done this, sure, you'd be slightly sore, as I know you recall from the newborns, but the venom from the wolves make it much worse."

I nodded, "How is Alice?"

Edward answered for me, "Not nearly as bad as you. She's in pain, and is down for the count right now, but she'll be fine long before you are. She wasn't pulled nearly apart like you, love."

"Did anyone else get hurt?"

"No. Rest, love. We'll talk later. Jasper wants to see you."

I merely nodded and tried, once again, to lose myself in my thoughts.

* * *

A/N: Well, what did you think?! Most of you were absolutely correct when you guessed the wolves! ;o) I'm impressed! But, I think that the 'wet dog smell' from last chapter gave it away. HAHA Oh well.

Anyway, REVIEW, PLEASE! This story has 400 favs and it's on 510 alert lists, so I'm just not getting how I can't get even HALF that in reviews each chapter or something… Oh well, I guess we can't ask for everything, but your feedback really helps! Seriously, it does…

Anyway, once again, I wanted to thank everyone who helped out with the incident. You guys are wonderful!

2,529 words!!!

Now, REVIEW PLEASE!!! ;o)


	13. Note! Grr

Okay for the LAST TIME….

**Dreams of Bubbles WAS NOT THE PERSON being accused of copying my story!!!!**

**Maiden of Books was the one.**

Dreams of Bubbles posted her story (which is in my faves) literally months before my own was posted, so I have NO IDEA where people are thinking I'm accusing HER of stealing, but whatever, we can't win them all.

I wanted to personally apologize for the misunderstanding by publicly letting her and everyone else know that it was most CERTAINLY not her I was accusing. She's a thousand times better writer than myself…

And ALSO, for the LAST TIME…

I did not take HER story! Her story is similar to mine in two aspects, as far as I know: 1) Jasper and Bella are brother and sister and 2) they met up in Forks.

I'll let you all be the judges of that, however, I am positive that those are the similarities. Her story doesn't include Bella pretending to be a boy and following Jasper to war to see if she could find him or anything like that.

I'm sorry, Dreams of Bubbles, (and certainly her fans) for possibly thinking that it was a possibility for me to even _think_ of calling her a thief, let alone copying HER story.

Hopefully that clears things up. Feel free to PM me if you have questions about the situation, however this is SOLEY a subject for Dreams of Bubbles and myself since she is the one who feels most violated since her story "Found" has been copied many many times over (not by me). I assure you, it was NOT her whom I was accusing, and most of the people who review this "note" will be able to attest to the fact that I named specifically "Maiden of Books" and further said that I would delete the last note which was used to ask people to report THAT girl (NOT Dreams of Bubbles) to .

That's about all I can say on the subject. I'm a huge fan of Dreams of Bubbles' fics (I particularly love "Protector" [I believe that's it's proper title]), but I would never stoop so low to claim that SHE is stealing my story when so obviously I reviewed her story months before I even posted my own.

So yeah, I definitely specifically said "Maiden of Books" and "Dreams of Bubbles" was NEVER EVER EVER EVER mentioned.

-LAoR


	14. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Everything but this plot belongs to Stephenie Meyer!!**

**A/N: **Thank you to anabanana13, FANPIRE23451TWILIGT (for being freaking amazing through this stuff), Jessiechreesie (for such a great review!), Krugness (because YOU are awesome!), AshleyCullen0021 (your review made me smile), dazzlingnsparkling (it's because the wolves are stupid and I hate them and I want them to seem stupid lol), MrsCullen2992 (good idea, I'll think about it), gemini169, MadlyInLoveWithEdwardCullen, -Azn-Grl-Twilight-Fan- (HAHAHAHAHAHA Your review is freaking HYSTERICAL, as usual. I love you lol), LPsDarkAngel (for being a mature person and not jumping to conclusions and reading things through), and twiXlite (you are SO sweet!!!!).

… WOW that's A LOT of people!! I couldn't help it though; you guys are SOOOO amazing to me! I loved your comments/feedback and your words of comfort and kindness. I thank you all for your understanding over the ordeal (which can be read about on my profile.) ALSO, I decided to leave the note up just in case some more silly things come up about theft or whatnot. So, once again, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!!!! … And sorry for not updating in so long, I was just so aggravated by the "theft" situation.

OMG!!! My old high school, The School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, has its own REALITY SHOW!! It's on MTV on Thursdays at 10pm. WATCH IT!!

* * *

Jasper's POV

As we ran through the forest, my fears grew, as did the fears of my family. We were running towards the treaty line. How could any of us forgotten to tell Bella about the treaty or the wolves? This was all, all of it, my fault…

Suddenly we heard a blood-curling scream of pain that tore through the trees of the forest.

"BELLA!" I cried out, pushing myself as fast as I could go, the trees becoming a blur.

"Oh _God_, Bella!" Alice cried, "That was her! Oh God, I'm so _sorry!_"

"BELLS, HOLD ON!" Emmett's loud, deep voice echoed.

I glanced at Edward as we leapt over fallen logs and greenery and was accosted with the sheer amount of terror, anger, and _love_ that emanated from him.

"WE'RE COMING!" I shouted as loud as I could, hoping my beautiful little sister could hear and hold on just a bit longer. I cringed as she cried out in pain again, the sound of ripping metal becoming clearer and clearer.

Why were the wolves attacking her? She had gold eyes, just as the rest of us, and there was no way she was going to be hunting humans on their land. Where they just attacking a vampire to attack a vampire?

"JASPER! EDWARD!" She screamed as we burst into the clearing to see her balling her right hand into a fist to punch a tan colored beast between its eyes.

"BELLA!" Edward leapt through the air and began to tear the beasts from my sister; the rage in his emotions nearly staggered me when combined with my own. I jumped towards one of the wolves and also helped keep it away from Bella.

"ALICE! WATCH OUT!" Bella's voice wasn't clear anymore but I heard her warning and turned to see my beautiful, tiny Alice be tackled by another of the wolves. Bella cried out again as a russet colored wolf appeared to clamp its jaws around her harder, I turned to Alice and saw with relief as she stood and leapt again into the fray.

Edward had pried the jaws from Bella and Esme was now reassuring him that Carlisle is speaking with the wolf leader, urging Edward to help the rest of us who had wolves jumping from practically every angle. Emmett appeared to be having fun as he laughed and punched whatever beast leapt at him.

I heard Esme gasp, "Alice! Oh no! JASPER!" and I turned to see one of the wolves jump and bite my wife, tossing her into the air towards another one that proceeded to bite her as if she were a bone. She screamed in pain and it was as if a red colored film were placed in front of my eyes. The rage that consumed me was pushed onto the wolves as I tore them from my Alice. Rosalie had leapt to our aid. The beast took a swipe at me and I dodged it, only to feel the claws pierce my skin on my left shoulder. I brushed it off as I threw it into a tree.

"She can't have known, Sam! Bella doesn't hunt humans, she's one of us!" I heard Carlisle plead with the leader, Edward was right beside him, the rage on his features overwhelming. "Call them off, Sam! Call them off, now!"

I was amazed suddenly as right when the black wolf huffed in apparent anger, every single one of the wolves seemed to freeze right before us. Edward was suddenly next to Bella asking her how bad she was, "Bella!" I started toward her but she shook her head, "Go to Alice, Jazz," she said, her face twisted in pain, "She's hurt, too." Edward reinforced her request by saying he would take care of her and I nodded and turned to my Alice.

Her shoulder was torn to shreds and her face was twisted in physical pain, she tried to sit up but I stopped her, "No, no, stay still Allie, I've got you. I'm here."

She nodded and lay back down and I took the time to once over her injuries, her shoulder torn to shreds, her shirt was dirty and bore holes from the teeth of the beasts. I lifted her shirt to see her stomach and torso and saw the indentations of teeth that looked to have crushed her. I thanked God she was a vampire. Alice moaned in pain, and even though I wanted to soothe her and focus completely on her, I was stiff as I listened to Carlisle speak to Sam, reassuring him that Bella knew nothing of the treaty and that she hunted only animals.

It didn't take much longer before the wolves retreated a few steps, allowing us to leave. I swiftly and carefully gathered Alice into my arms and I heard Edward tell Carlisle that Bella had stopped responding after apologizing profusely.

"Jazz," Alice whispered, "Don't be hard on her. Please, for me? She didn't know… She was only hunting."

"I'll do what I can, Allie, just rest, okay? You need to heal." I took a step and, with the rest of my family, we were off and barreling through the forest towards our home.

Bella and Alice were the worst of all of us: Esme bore a few injuries on her arms where the claws pierced her skin; Rosalie just looked a little worse for wear, her hair unkempt and her clothes torn; Emmett looked fine, just dirty; Carlisle's hair was out of place and his clothes too were torn, but otherwise our family was fine.

When we reached home, I rushed Alice to our room and lay her on the bed where she whimpered. The wolves had bitten her in many places and their venom, which was painful only to our kind, caused her more pain.

I heard Bella groan and cry out as Carlisle looked her over first, as she was clearly the worst-off. I couldn't help but blame myself for not keeping a closer eye on her, but Alice's words made me think about how hard I would be on her.

"Jazz," She knew me too well, "Don't, please? It was only a matter of time, none of us thought to tell her, and she only needed a bit of freedom that no one was giving her." She hissed in pain as she shifted her weight before continuing, "She'll be okay, embarrassed, and won't have any desire to run out for awhile. Let her be, just make sure she's okay." I nodded at my wife's wisdom and held her in my arms.

"I was scared, Alice. I'm still scared." I confessed to her, "Bella is my baby sister, and she was nearly killed, twice!"

Alice nodded slightly, "She was ambushed by multiple wolves. It doesn't matter how great of a fighter she is Jazz, and you know she is a good fighter. She was ambushed. Oh, hello, Carlisle."

I stepped to the side to let Carlisle look her over, asking her questions, and running his fingers over her wounds.

"How is Bella?" I asked.

"Lucky," he responded as a finger prodded Alice. She cried out quietly and shut her eyes. "Alice, I'm going to push your skin together, it will hurt, but you will be completely healed in a matter of hours." He waited for her to nod before going to work.

"What do you mean, lucky?" I asked as I held Alice's hand.

"She's lucky to be alive, Jasper, I won't lie to you. Her injuries are extensive and it will take nearly a week, I estimate, for her to be back to normal. The venom from the wolves is keeping her from healing and making her injuries hurt that much more. She was nearly pulled apart by those beasts."

I sat back and looked at the door, mentally telling Edward that I want to see her once Alice is taken care of.

* * *

Bella's POV

Carlisle had to tear a sheet into many strips to wrap around my various injuries so my skin could be forced back together. The pain was ebbing away slowly, but it was still blinding. I forced my mind from my body and allowed Edward to just hold me to him as I waited for my brother. I longed to see him, and at the same time hoped he wouldn't resent me for sneaking away. I had only wanted to get away from the ever present watching and over-protectiveness for a little while.

"Edward," I whimpered. I opened my eyes to see his, which had turned dark. I wondered distantly if my own were nearly black.

"Yes, my love? Are you in more pain?"

I shook my head, "No, it's very slowly going away." I closed my eyes and reopened them, "I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I'm sorry." I felt my body shake with sobs and wished I could produce tears. "Don't resent me, I didn't know."

He had frozen next to me but recovered in a flash, "Bella! No one could ever resent you! We understand; we know you didn't know. That is our fault for not telling you about the wolves or the treaty. It slipped our minds. If anyone should be sorry, it is I for not informing you. We were only trying to keep you safe--"

I shook my head, nearly reduced to sobs, "And I ruined that. I only wanted you to not be so over-protective. I left, snuck out, because I wanted time to myself. I've never been so smothered, Edward. I am used to living on my own, fighting on my own. I can't handle all of the watching. I'm so sorry."

I felt so weak, like such a failure. On top of my emotions, I was in so much pain; I could barely move.

"Oh Bella. Bella, Bella, Bella… Don't be sorry. Everything will be okay. _I'm_ who should be sorry, not you… Never you." He held me tighter, "I thought..." He paused for a moment, "It's all my fault. I pushed you to leave by practically breathing down your neck all of the time. Jasper too. _We_ are who should be sorry, my lovely Bella, not _you."_

"Where is Jasper?" I asked quietly.

"With Alice. Shall I get him for you?" I shook my head.

"No, let him take care of her. He can come when she is alright." I closed my eyes and sighed.

I felt him shift beside me, "How much pain are you really in? Please don't downplay it."

I paused and opened my eyes to look at him carefully before I caved, "It's awful. My leg feels as if it was crushed and don't get me started on my shoulder or torso. If I were human, I'd be dead." I closed my eyes again and turned my head, "I'm so embarrassed."

"Isabella Marie Whitlock, you have no reason, absolutely no reason, to feel embarrassed." Edward was in my face, careful to not touch my injuries, "You were _ambushed_ by those beasts. It was one against nine? Ten? Those things were _trying_ to kill you, ganging up on you to do so, knowing that there was no way they could take you down without their high numbers. You have nothing to be embarrassed about."

"I guess," I started, cringing as I tried to move, "that I'm lucky you all showed up." I felt my face screw up as I fought back sobs, "I thought I was going to die, Edward."

"Bella?" Jasper had entered the room and was standing by the door.

"Jazzy. " I used my good arm to reach toward him, urging him closer.

He came forward and was next to me in a flash, Edward had stood and was walking toward the door, "I'll be back later, Bella, I love you."

"I love you, too." I watched as he closed the door behind him before turning to my brother, "Jazz, I'm sorry--" I began.

"Don't you be sorry, Bells, it's not your fault." His bottom lip trembled and I suddenly burst into sobs, "But I am!" I whispered, "It's my fault. If I hadn't left…"

"You did what we forced you to do," he said as he pulled me into a gentle but firm hug, "We didn't give you any freedom, it was ripped from you suddenly and we shouldn't have done that. _I'm _sorry for not telling you. I was only trying to keep my little sister safe. You left my life for a hundred and fifty years, and I didn't want you to be ripped from me again."

"I'm okay, Jazzy, I'm okay. I'm not going anywhere," I assured him, holding him to me with my good arm.

"I promise I won't be so hard on you, Bella. I'm sorry." I nodded in acceptance; I wasn't planning on running off again, that was for sure.

I felt him shift and I hissed in pain, the venom from the disgusting wolves suddenly burning my wounds again.

"Oh, Lord, I'm sorry! Let me get Carlisle. We'll see if we can't get the venom washed from your wounds, it has to be keeping you from healing."

"It's making it worse. I felt fine after the newborn attack, but this is awful."

He nodded, "Carlisle," He spoke at a normal level and within seconds, Carlisle had entered the room with Edward at his heels.

"Isn't there anything you can do to wash the venom from her wounds; a bath or shower maybe? Is Alice hurting this badly? This has to be making things worse."

"Calm down, Jasper. Let's see what we can do. It's a good idea to try, why don't you get Alice to your bathroom and start your shower? The pressure of the water shouldn't matter due to the consistency of our skin. I'll check back with her once you are done and I'll reexamine for any residual venom. I'm surprised I didn't think of this…"

Jasper nodded and after kissing me on my forehead, stepped from the room to the aid of Alice. "We're going to have to move you together Bella since I don't want you moving your leg just yet until I am sure you're healed from the crushing of the wolf's jaws. After we get you situated either Rosalie or Esme can help you in the shower since I'm sure you won't be comfortable just yet with Edward seeing you without clothes."

I nodded in agreement, he was right. I wanted Edward to see me naked for the first time under different circumstances, "Okay, Rosalie or Esme it is."

"Perhaps both of them," Edward spoke up, "You may need help standing or something and it'll make things easier."

* * *

After getting both Rosalie and Esme, Edward and Carlisle moved me to the bathroom and left me in their care.

"Alright, Bella, let's get you undressed." Rosalie brought scissors with her to cut my blouse from me without forcing me to raise my arms to take it off. I was thankful for her thoughtfulness. Esme helped her with my tattered and now useless jeans and I was left sitting on the granite bench I had sat on when Edward washed my hair when we had taken a shower together dressed in our swimming attire completely naked.

Esme had taken the showerhead and turned the water on, they weren't worried about themselves getting wet as I saw that their hair was still damp from their own showers and they were both wearing jeans and light tee-shirts. I marveled in the back of my mind at how stunning they both were still able to look in such "comfort clothes."

They were both gentle as they rinsed my frighteningly shredded shoulder with water and I felt the stinging and burning sensation fall away with every drop of water. Rosalie was washing my hair and picking leaves and twigs from my tresses. I looked down at the drain and saw where dirt had been washed from my body.

"Oh, I was dirty, wasn't I?" I commented, earning a light giggle from Esme and an outright laugh from Rosalie.

"Clearly," she said.

"How do you feel, Bella? Better?"

I nodded, "Yes, much much better, thank you, Esme. The burning is gone. I feel myself healing now."

They helped me stand and I looked down at my thigh and saw that it looked exponentially better. "Oh good, I thought it was going to stay looking awful," I motioned to the limb, which was molding back to its original shape as I spoke.

"Well, let's get you dressed and back into that bed so you can keep healing."

And so I was dressed in a navy blue sleeveless top to allow Carlisle to have access to it during the healing process, and a pair of white linen pants before I was carried back to the bed. My leg was looking better, but it wouldn't allow me to walk just yet, my muscles were crushed.

I thanked them and was left alone again for only a split second as Edward came in, followed by Carlisle, to give me another once-over. I told him I felt much better and could feel myself healing. I asked about Alice and received the good news that she was already on her feet and moving around and that she wanted to see me.

Things were going to be back to normal in no time. I just couldn't wait for my crushed leg to be righted again. I noticed my throat was beginning to burn.

"I'm thirsty," I mentioned to Edward once Carlisle had left, "and your eyes are dark, clearly you are too. I can't go out to hunt, so what am I going to do?"

"I'll be back, just hold tight." And he was gone out the window and into the forest behind the house.

"_As long as no blood ruins the carpet…"_ I heard Esme say from downstairs. I nearly laughed when I realized he was going to bring the food to me.

Edward returned a few moments later, his eyes already back to their familiar golden hue, carrying with him a large deer that had been immobilized. He offered it to me and in a flash I was leaning over it with my teeth buried into its neck. My throat was cooling down with the wonderful sensation of blood as I swallowed it.

Once I finished, I looked up to my love as I licked the last drops of blood from my lips. He took the dead animal, disposed of it, and returned in less than a minute.

"Better?" He asked. I nodded and reached up to kiss him, my guilt fading away.

"I love you, my Bella."

"I love you too. I feel much better."

"I know." He said as he ran his fingers through my hair.

* * *

An entire week had gone by and I was back to normal, none of my wounds hurt me any longer. Jasper had kept his promise on not being hard on me and Edward had seemed to take his lead. I was currently sitting in the back yard with Edward as we watched Esme and surprisingly Emmett tend to her garden.

"Let's take a walk," Edward suggested.

I agreed and suddenly we were leaping happily through the trees in the forest.

"Bella," I heard him call my name from below me and I lightly jumped from the branches I was twirling on.

"Yes Edward?" He seemed nervous, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, honest. I was just thinking about what happened a week ago." He sat down on a fallen log, motioning for me to sit beside him.

"Edward, I'm fine."

"I know you are," he looked away and out into the trees, "But, Bella…" he sighed, "I thought I was going to lose you. I thought you were going to die. It nearly killed me when I heard your screams, and I thought I was going to die when you were in pain and crying for help. You are my life, now, Bella. I can't live without you."

I was so touched by his confession. If I were able to cry, I know that I would have had tears flowing down my cheeks. I reached forward and turned his face toward my own, "I'm not going anywhere, Edward," I said with conviction.

"I'm staying with you _forever_. I'm not going anywhere. I promise to never go anywhere near La Push again, I promise to be with you forever."

I watched as he paused and then when he suddenly leaned to me and began to kiss me passionately. He held my face gently yet firmly with one hand and pulled my closer by my waist with the other. His reaction confused me, but I kissed him back with equal fervor.

He pulled back and I was ecstatic to see the large grin that was spread across his features; he looked so elated. "Thank you" he whispered.

I laughed, "Anytime."

He pulled me up and held my hand as we began to walk towards the house.

I was looking around at the trees and greenery when he suddenly stopped and pointed, "Well, would you look at that. Who would leave such a pretty little thing just laying where someone could so easily pick it up?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked as I turned to look at what he was pointing to, but I froze as my eyes landed upon a delicate pretty little gold band with diamonds in a swirl on the band. "Edward… Is that--?" I walked over and picked it up, "Wow, it's pretty!" I smiled as I held it and turned back around.

I gasped as I saw him kneeling down on one knee, his crooked grin stretched across his face, "Do you like it? I know it's not exactly modern, if you'd rather another one, I can do that too… It belonged to my mother."

"Edward, are you… Are you proposing to me?" Had I been human, my heart would've been beating wildly.

His smile grew wider, "I am. I love you more than anything I have ever seen or loved in my life. You _are_ my life. Isabella Marie Whitlock, will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

I wrapped my fingers around the delicate gold ring before suddenly tackling him down to the ground, "Yes, yes, a million times over, yes! I'll be your wife." I kissed him all over his face before burying my face into his shoulder, "Yes, I'll marry you."

His arms wrapped around me and held me to his body so tightly before releasing me for a moment, "Let's get that ring on your finger, shall we?"

I giggled as he took the ring from my hand and placed it on my left ring finger. I admired it as we sat in the grass of the forest. A thought struck me suddenly.

"Edward?"

"Yes?"

"Does Jasper know?"

* * *

Hahaha Sorry, I had to do it!!! ;o) I thought it was too funny to pass up!

Sorry it took so freaking long to update, but I explained above why it took me so long. Life is crazy! I've been doing so many auditions and filming commercials and screen tests that I've had no time!

Anyway, please please please review!

4,236 words!!! 3 Over 56,000 hits!!! You guys are amazing! I wish everyone would review... Oh well, thanks to everyone who does!


	15. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: Everything but this plot belongs to Stephenie Meyer!!**

**A/N: **Thank you to anabanana13, FANPIRE23451TWILIGT (for being freaking amazing through this stuff), Jessiechreesie (for such a great review!), Krugness (because YOU are awesome!), AshleyCullen0021 (your review made me smile), dazzlingnsparkling (its because the wolves are stupid and I hate them and I want them to seem stupid lol), MrsCullen2992 (good idea, Ill think about it), gemini169, MadlyInLoveWithEdwardCullen, -Azn-Grl-Twilight-Fan- (HAHAHAHAHAHA Your review is freaking HYSTERICAL, as usual. I love you lol), LPsDarkAngel (for being a mature person and not jumping to conclusions and reading things through), and twiXlite (you are SO sweet!!!!).

WOW that's A LOT of people!! I couldn't help it though; you guys are SOOOO amazing to me! I loved your comments/feedback and your words of comfort and kindness. I thank you all for your understanding over the ordeal (which can be read about on my profile.) ALSO, I decided to leave the note up just in case some more silly things come up about theft or whatnot. So, once again, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!!!!

AHHH I'm SO SO SO SO SO Sorry for not updating in literally FOREVER. It was actually a message sent to me on here that got my butt rolling on this thing to write more. I think its just that I don't want it to end Unfortunately, this is the end!!!

* * *

Bella's POV

As it so turned out, Edward had in fact asked Jasper for my hand in marriage and my brother acquiesced and gave his blessing. Being me, of course, I thought little of the whole process; I figured Edward and I would say a few vows before a judge (or Emmett in the case that he had oddly acquired his license online), have a small party with the family, go on a small honeymoon and then be done with it.

Alice had many, _many_ other plans. And I had many, _many _ill thoughts towards her over-the-top designs and plans. Thankfully, she had allowed me to veto as many things as I saw fit.

After deciding that we would set the date for early summer as we were supposed to be graduating in the spring. It would look a bit odd if we were "allowed" to marry before we were graduated; at least, that's how Carlisle saw it. I couldn't help but agree.

But, after Alice had thrown design after design at me, I put my foot down and demanded that she stick to a 1918-esque theme. I would wear a dress that was in style from when Edward was still a human: so elegant, the high standing collar, the lace overlay on the bodice, the flounces of the overskirt, and the train of the under-skirt. Nothing more need be suggested. Edward had asked if I would rather center our wedding theme on another era, such as when Jasper and I were both human, but I had absolutely no desire to wear a design that would make me think of when I literally fought the boys away with a rifle.

No, I was quite content with the style of the late-Edwardian period and I was also quite content in vetoing as many hair-brained schemes that Alice concocts.

Everyone was also refusing to tell me where we were going for the honeymoon.

At the moment, mere weeks before the date of our wedding, Alice was putting the finishing touches to the dress. I kept my eyes closed, as even though I enjoyed looking beautiful, I hated the process.

"Bella, you could at least _pretend_ to enjoy yourself! Its _your_ wedding, after all," Alice clucked.

"I'd enjoy it just fine if we weren't dragging it out into this big party, Alice," I retorted, "I mean, just _who_ are we inviting anyway? We don't have any human friends."

Alice stopped her ministrations with my dress and flittered before me, "Oh _Bella!_ The Denali family; Kate, Irina, Tanya, Carmen and Eleazar of course!"

I shook my head and sighed as it was useless to argue with Alice, "Whatever you say, darlin'," I whispered, allowing my old accent to flutter through. I closed my eyes again and imagined myself in a meadow with Edward.

Alice suddenly pulled the dress from my body, "There! All d—" she stopped mid-sentence and my eyes flew open to stare as her eyes glazed over for a moment. I stood and waited, hoping that her vision wasnt anything bad.

She shuddered and shook her head quickly, "Oh, no! Hurry Bella, get dressed! We need to get downstairs! Call Edward and Carlisle!"

I nodded and not bothering to question her, tossed on my jeans and cashmere cardigan, ran downstairs and found my phone. Thankfully they were close and within minutes our entire family was gathered in the sitting room.

"So," Emmett began, "what's this about?"

"Alice had a vision," I answered, "She didn't give me time to ask her about it, though."

Alice suddenly stood and began to pace, something quite unusual for the pixie-like vampire, "Bella is right, I had a vision. I can't make much sense of it as it involves your wedding reception being crashed, I'd say, by another vampire."

"Do you know who it is?" Jasper asked.

Alice shook her head, "I know I haven't ever seen her, but she looked Hispanic. She had long dark hair, and red eyes. I see her asking questions about—Oh no!"

We sat on edge as Alice apparently figured out who would be crashing my reception, watching as she wrung her hands and looked at Jasper fearfully, "Maria, Jasper! That's who it is! It fits! She's going to ask about the newborns, but I cant see how it will end!"

"Calm down, Alice! Can you see any wavering on her part?" Jasper asked as he stood to comfort my sister-in-law. My heart sank as Alice shook her head.

Carlisle stood suddenly, his arms spread wide, "Then let us be prepared, shall we? Now she cant catch us off-guard, which, I'm sure, is what shes planning. Does she appear to know about Bella and Edward's wedding?"

Alice shook her head, "No, I see her being surprised."

Rosalie spoke suddenly, "Well, if there's nothing we can do about it, let's just go about our business and hope to God that a fight doesnt break out."

Carlisle nodded in agreement, "Just be prepared, everyone."

So, with the knowledge that my reception was going to be crashed by a possibly insane newborn-army-creating vampire, we stood and with hesitant hearts finished with the preparations for the wedding.

* * *

A few days after the revelation that Maria was going to make an appearance at our reception, Jasper and I were sitting alone in the house while everyone else was either hunting or merely going about their business. His arm was wrapped around my shoulders as we watched the History Channel.

"Is that true, Jazz?" I asked him about something one of the historians stated as a fact.

"I wasn't there for that particular battle, I was in another area at the time, but I believe it is," he answered.

"Oh," I mumbled, going silent for a few moments, "Jasper?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm so glad I found you," I whispered.

He suddenly pulled his arms around me tighter and placed a kiss on my forehead, "Me too, Bells, me too. So _very_ glad."

No more words were needed between us, it was just another brother-sister moment and I was content.

And I knew he was too.

* * *

The day of our wedding dawned over-cast and, according to the weatherman, warm with only a slight chance for rain. Alice assured me that the sky would not let go of a drop, however.

I smiled; I was getting married today to Edward! I never thought that I would _ever_ get married especially after all of those times I scared the men and boys away with my fathers spare rifle. I chuckled to myself as Alice and Rosalie pulled at my hair and applied my makeup.

"Alright, Bella," Esme interrupted my musings, "Let's get your veil on, shall we?"

I stood and allowed Alice to smooth my dress while Rosalie helped Esme place my veil just perfectly. Alice looked ready to cry as I stared at myself in the mirror.

"Oh Alice!" I cried, bending slightly to hug her.

"Don't you _dare_ wrinkle that dress!" She scolded as she laughed, kissing me on either cheek, "Now, lets go down, shall we? Jasper is getting restless."

I smiled; my brother was to be walking me down the aisle toward Edward, toward my life. Maria was at the back of my mind, however never gone.

"Alright, lets go," I took a deep breath and walked through the door and down the stairs to see my brother waiting at the base. I grinned at him and he smiled in return.

"You're actually getting married, Bella," He muttered.

"It's surreal, Jazz, but Im so glad," I whispered as I reached to hug him.

He smiled as he took my hand and led me forward, Alice was already ahead of me, and Rosalie and Esme had gone to sit outside. I could hear the music begin and recognized, "_Trumpet Voluntary" _also known as _"The Prince of Denmark's March."_

I watched as Alice stepped gracefully outside and waited for my turn; she was my only bridesmaid.

"Ready, darlin'?" Jasper asked quietly.

I looked over to my brother and smiled as I felt my nerves melt away, "Yes."

And so we began to walk.

* * *

Jasper's POV

I had no qualms as I walked my little sister down the aisle toward Edward. I glanced over to see my Alice as she grinned wide at us. She, too, was wearing a dress from the era when she and Edward both were still human*. It was like a flashback, everyone here was dressed in the same era attire. I smiled as once again, Alice's plan of perfection had come through.

My sister looked breathtaking and I knew by the emotions that Edward was giving off, that he felt the same. The love that burst from him was staggering.

My sister had chosen well and I couldn't have been happier for her.

Sure, Edward was moody, over-analytical, cocky, and constantly over-thought things, but Bella somehow balanced him out with her irrational actions, worrisome countenance, and for some stupid reason, her insecurities. It shocked me that while they were opposites, they were also the same.

Now wasn't really the time to think about those things though, I chided myself. My baby sister was getting married today and no, it didn't matter that she has been walking this earth since the mid-1840s; she would always be my baby sister.

The music quieted and came to a close as we neared Edward. I shook his hand and nodded at him, _'I know you will, but I just need to tell you anyway, take care of her, Edward. Shes strong, but so very fragile too,' _I thought to him. He nodded in understanding.

I looked at my little sister, my Bella, and kissed her cheek, "I love you," I whispered.

"I love you too," She whispered back.

And I let go of her hand and went to stand by the altar as Edward's best man.

* * *

Bella's POV

As Edward took my hand from Jasper, my world was suddenly a whirl-wind: we listened to Emmett as he spoke of why we were gathered, we said our vows, we stared into one another's eyes, and then my world slowed just enough to hear Emmett ask me if I will take Edward as my lawfully wedded husband.

"I do," I whispered.

My world nearly stopped as I heard Edward whisper the same; for a split second I worried that this was a dream, but suddenly he was kissing me and I knew.

I knew he was mine for eternity, I knew I was his wife, I knew that all of my troubles weren't for nothing, and I knew that I was meant for this life.

"Ahem," Emmett cleared his throat forcing us to part for unneeded air, "I now present to you Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cullen!" And our family broke into applause. I smiled as I hugged Edward to me, "I love you, darling," he whispered in my ear.

"As I love you," I replied.

Our moment was interrupted quite suddenly when Emmett shouted, "PARTY! Let's start!"

"Come on, love," Edward smiled, "Shall we go?"

* * *

The Denali's and the Cullen's were all inside the structure that Alice had had erected for the purpose of our reception; lanterns and bunches of flowers hung everywhere and I was suddenly very glad that it had been she who planned the whole thing as I wouldnt have ever thought of half of the decorations. There was going to be a cake, however, it was a fake one just for the sake of the pictures.

As Edward and I entered, our families were clapping and catcalling as we gathered ourselves on the dance floor for our first dance as husband and wife.

I smiled warmly as I recognized the lullaby that Edward had written for me playing as we swayed and twirled with each other, blissfully unaware of the others around us as they slowly joined in.

Minutes passed as we stared into each other's eyes.

"I love you, so very much," he smiled seductively.

"Oh, Edward, I lo—," But I was interrupted by a loud crash.

"What--?" I began, but then Alice's prediction came tumbling down on me, "Oh no! I forgot!"

Edward held me tight as we looked on, the music turned off, toward the source of the noise. I stiffened as I watched the graceful, beautiful Hispanic vampire waltz into the area through the broken glass doors.

"Oh, it seems someone is having a party!" She exclaimed as she looked around.

I felt myself shudder as her red eyes settled on Edward and myself, smirking, and then travelling over my brother, her eyes widening, "Jasper! It's been years, darling! Hows life?" She smiled maliciously before continuing, "I could use your help you know, I'm willing to overlook your, shall we call it, _truancy."_

My brother stepped forward slowly and cautiously.

"Maria," Jasper was stiff and his words were crisp as he spoke to his maker, "I left with reason and I'm doing fine. I must decline your offer, however as I have a family now."

"Is that so? A _family?_" Maria sneered, clearly not caring. _How_ had Jasper spent so much time with this woman?! "Well," she continued, "That is not what I came for anyway, I came to see what was so important that the red-headed woman, Victoria, needed my newborns so desperately for and also to see who or what had so definitely disposed of them."

"Well, now that youve seen," Emmett spoke up, "Are you planning to leave?"

Maria smiled maliciously, "Oh," she licked her teeth and curled her lips once more, "Perhaps for _a little while_. Those newborns meant _quite_ a bit to me, you see, and I'm quite _cross_ about losing them," she sighed dramatically, "Alas, I shall take my leave as even I can see I am outmanned and outnumbered. Perhaps another time then, _take care."_

And with that, she flipped her black hair and made her way back from the hole she had created and disappeared from sight.

"So, Alice, did you see _this_ coming?" Rosalie asked quickly.

She shook her head, "no. No I didnt. I dont know if she's actually going to come back or not, though I think were safe, for now."

I looked at Edward and saw worry swimming in his eyes and pulled him to me, "We didn't even get to finish our first dance," I trailed off.

Suddenly I was twirled around and dipped low to the ground before feeling his lips pressed to my mouth. I smiled as he suddenly made things so much better for me: my Edward, my _husband._

And I knew that no matter what happened, we would be okay and I couldn't wait for our honeymoon, wherever it may be. It didn't matter that the threat of Maria and her newborn army was floating over our heads, I had my family and they weren't going _anywhere_ anytime soon.

* * *

AAAAAAAAND welcome to the almost-end of Finding Family!!!!! Don't you worry; I'm going to work on their honeymoon and the scene EVERYONE has been waiting for! :o) But, alas, THIS is the end of all of the action until I decide whether or not to write a sequel I'll tell you what:

**I WILL POST A POLL FOR A SEQUEL ON MY PROFILE PAGE!!!!** Its a simple "yes" or "no" question and if ANYONE wants to suggest things, feel free to PM me :o)

830 REVIEWS so far, 95,253 HITS, 686 FAVES, and 724 ALERTS!!! Oh my GOD everyone!! That's UNFATHOMABLE!!! I honestly think I'll do a back flip for the first time in 5 years if I can make it to 1000 reviews and 100,000 hits! Could you help with that? You ALL are AMAZINGLY fantastic and I really can't do this without you, your suggestions, and guidance. So THANK YOU!!!!!!

Review!!!!


End file.
